Liberty Rock
by Sergeant Conley
Summary: Post TP. This is the tale of the warriors who defended Liberty Rock in the name of peace in a land torn by Civil War, of the days long siege where their enemies grew in number, yet their resolve remained strong, and of the fall of the Hero of Twilight.
1. Their Tale

**Author's Note: I've had this idea in my head lately, but figured I'd wait until I finished or was almost finished with my current Halo fic "No Good". Unfortunately, I'm a bit stuck on it, so I'll work on this for a bit. Hopefully, the creative juices from it will spill over and clear the writer's block in NG. I'd still love some reviews on this or NG**, **if you decide to check it out.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Legend of Zelda or any characters featured therein. Some are featured here, but most of the characters in this story are of my creation.

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_My name is not important. To reveal it is to give me recognition that I do not deserve, for I was only a faceless background individual in the tale which I am here to share. That is the tale of Liberty Rock, a fort where 235 of us, brave warriors who believed in freedom, held the army of a dictator at bay to give time for a proper defense of our allies to be built. Only 27 of us left that fort alive, but the sacrifice of the others saved the unity of that land, the unity of Calatia. _

_This is the tale of those martyrs. This is the tale of Colonel Gavelston, the leader of the Calatian Loyalists in the Rock that opposed the dictator General Vael, he who wished to usurp the throne and make Calatia his. This is the tale of Captain Rhodus, an officer in Hyrule's 1st__ King's Royal Cavalry Squadron whom I'd served under for seven years when the Rock fell. This is the tale of Rusl, an experienced swordsman of Hyrule who came with the cavalrymen lead by Captain Rhodus, myself included, to help fortify the Loyalists' defenses. This is the tale of Bargus, a mighty hero of Calatia who'd defeated a whole troop of Rebel cavalrymen alone. And most of all, this is the tale of Link, the Hero of Twilight who had saved the land of Hyrule two years prior and had come with Rusl and Captain Rhodus to aid us, to aid the crumbling nation of Calatia. This is their story, one I witnessed first hand, and am honored to record in these pages. I suppose my best place to start would be at the beginning._

_Calatia is a peaceful nation, friendly to my home of Hyrule and located just west of it. Our countries had been allies for centuries, and we had shared many things. It was they who introduced to us the technology of cannons. When the Twilight Crisis occurred five years ago, Calatia had sent aid, though it was taken by the fell Shadow Beasts of the Twilight Realm. After the Crisis, it was Calatia who'd helped us rebuild our castle, our people, and our kingdom. It was only natural that, when civil war erupted in Calatia, Princess Zelda answered its call for help. _

_Calatia's humble and noble king had told her of his plight, which all of Hyrule knew by the end of the day: his mightiest and most ruthless commander General Vael had launched a coup d'tat, leading a massive army of trained soldiers who, at the time, were loyal to his cause. When Vael learned Hyrule would send help, he announced his intentions to spill blood on Hylian soil, if necessary. He would rule Calatia, even if he had to invade a part of another country to do so. And so Princess Zelda reacted quickly, sending forward the 1__st__ King's Royal Cavalry Squadron, the best unit in the Grand Army of Hyrule. _

_Their instructions were simple: hold the passes into Hyrule until the whole army could be assembled and prepared for war. Though only numbering 140 soldiers, the 1__st__ King's contained the best trained warriors in Hyrule. They received more advanced training in swordfighting, archery, and horse-mounted combat than the ordinary soldier, effectively making them capable of doing any soldier's job. _

_I belonged to Troop 2, which made up almost one-third the Squadron's strength. It was this troop that was commanded by Captain Rhodus. Totaling 60 men, Rhodus included, it had received the task to hold the Calatian side of the Kasuto Pass. Specifically, we would be reinforcing a 140 man Calatian Loyalist garrison at the small fort of Liberty Rock. We received that assignment due to multiple reasons: of the three Troops in the Squadron, ours was the most efficient, the best if you will. Secondly, of the three positions the Squadron was to defend, the Rock, it was also called, had the smallest force already defending it. It was also the weakest fort on the border, and needed the best of the best to hold it. _

_There was one thing the Princess wished us to do first before we set out to Calatia, and thus we departed Hyrule Castle Town six or seven days before the rest of the Squadron. It might have been eight, my memory fails me here. Whenever it was, Captain Rhodus sent his second in command, Lieutenant Falod, along with almost the entire Troop towards the Kasuto Pass with instructions to wait for him. He then chose a five man squad to go with him on the special errand. _

_That squad happened to be mine. I recall that we spent the first full day traveling south towards the Ordona Province. Our destination was the only center of civilization for the Humans in Hyrule: Ordon Village. The "special errand" we were tasked with was one we all intended to carry through with honor, whether we succeeded or failed._

_We were tasked with finding Link and, on Princess Zelda's behalf, asking him to aid her once again._


	2. The Hero of Twilight

**Author's Note: Thanks to ChocolateTeapot for my only review so far. I should mention about a change in style in this story starting here. When the text is all italics, it's the "Survivor's Account", which he's writing five years after the events of Twilight Princess, and three years after the fall of Liberty Rock. When the text is normal, it's a flashback showing things as they happened during the events of the Survivor's Account. There'll be some stuff in the flashbacks not mentioned in the Account, but it's not an error of perspective. It's intentional alternative narration.**

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1 for disclaimer.

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_As I said earlier, we had traveled a full day south, and so it was night when we reached the outskirts of Ordon Village. It was a small settlement of only a few homes and citizens, almost all Human. They were no different from us Hylians, save their ears were rounded and hearing not quite as acute as ours. It was our acute hearing that picked up the sound of jovial music as we entered the Ordona Province, a large forest that covered almost the entirety of southern Hyrule. The music grew louder as we progressed through the forest, and soon the village was in sight, and what a sight it was._

_Though incredibly small compared to Castle Town, the village had expanded since the Twilight Crisis. There were a few more buildings here and there, though which were new and which were old was a mystery to me for I had never been there before. But the music and decorations told me the village was not as lively as this often. Lights hung from every roof and tree in the area, torch posts hung here and there made things even brighter. In the center of the village, seemingly all of its citizens were gathered for a festival. People of various ages danced about in the center while others watched from the sides. A group of children were among those dancing, though one, incredibly small and somewhat familiar, seemed more to be observing from inside the mob. The two music makers caught our eyes immediately however. _

_One was a man of older age, his blond hair partially hiding a white bandanna, a thin mustache hung over a kind and wise smile. His clothing was mostly shades of green, grey, brown, and white, much like the rest of the villagers. He was playing a mandolin with the ease that could only be achieved through years of practice. He was sitting on a chair as he played, and beside him was a boy, no doubt his son, watching the festivities with a smile on his face. On his back was a small sword. The other musician, however, grabbed our attention even more. He was a tall man, no doubt only recently of marrying age, with blond hair so dark it was almost brown. His ears were the pointed ones of a Hylian, his eyes blue and focused on the crowd of dancers. His clothing consisted of a pair of brown riding boots, white leggings and undershirt, a battered tunic and floppy cap, both a dark green faded with use and wear and covered in repaired rips and tears. Around his waist was a brown belt. His hands and forearms bore fingerless leather gauntlets with intricate designs on the back. On his shoulder was the violin he played, a gift from Princess Zelda herself he'd received not long after saving Hyrule from the Twilight Crisis. _

_The music and merriment was in full swing when we entered the village unnoticed by any of its citizens. We dismounted our horses and politely waited for the current song to end before making our presence known._

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Laughter, music, and the overall mood of the Midsummer Festival made Ordon Village seem a haven in the forest. Those who weren't dancing were watching from the side, enjoying the delicious food made by Uli, Pergie, and Sera, the housewives of the village. One such onlooker was Mayer Bo, a round-waisted man with limbs that seemed too thin for his torso's girth. His grey hair and rather odd moustache only added to his unusual appearance, but then again, almost all the adults in Ordon seemed at least slightly odd in appearance. The exceptions were Illia, Mayor Bo's eighteen year-old daughter, and the town's most respected and well-known citizen, Link.

Two years ago Link, the Hero of Twilight, had once been a simple ranch-hand in Ordon. When the town's children as well as Illia had been kidnapped by Moblins, Link became ensnared in circumstances far beyond his control. Thrust into a grand adventure, Link had traveled throughout Hyrule, seen practically every inch of the land, and now knew it like the back of his hand. In the end, he'd saved more than the kidnapped children and Illia, he'd saved the entire land of Hyrule from the grasp of Twilight and the evil king Ganondorf. The tales of his adventures had spread, and Link had become the most well known savior of Hyrule since the Hero of Time. Stories were abound of the man who could breathe underwater, walk on walls and ceilings, change the winds with a boomerang, throw a giant Goron with his bare hands, and more. While Link himself never spread or encouraged these stories due to his humble nature, they all had an element of truth to them which only he, and those he told that truth to, knew.

After the Crisis, Link had changed. Whereas before he was content with his life in Ordon, he was now restless in the village which to him at times seemed claustrophobic. He never felt truly at home save in the fields and wilds of Hyrule. He was always wanting to go somewhere, do something, find some new adventure. He was also more serious and grave. He'd always been somewhat quiet, but now he was a different kind of quiet. These changes affected others as well. He and Illia had always had somewhat of an infatuation with each other, but the Crisis, which both experienced in different ways, changed them both, and they only now saw each other as dear friends. Moreover, the whole village respected Link as a warrior on par with if not superior to its resident sword master and blacksmith Rusl. As such, whenever he stayed in the village, he always joined Rusl as "guardian" of the village, patrolling and protecting it from any dangers of the wild. Though none came, the feeling of guarding those he cared for soothed Link's soul in a way he could never describe.

He'd also joined Rusl in training the blacksmith's son Colin, who had also changed during the Crisis. Before, he'd been a timid boy who was often teased by the other two boys in the village, Malo and Talo, as a "wussie". Though he looked up to Link, who at the time knew only basic sword combat, he felt he could never match Link's courage. This was proven wrong during the Crisis when Colin had saved Beth, the only girl of the four children, and thus came out of his shell. Since then, Rusl and Link had been teaching him the way of the blade, the bow, and the tracker. Colin would often use some of these skills to entertain his younger sister, who'd been born just as the Twilight Crisis had ended.

Of all the changes in Link's life before and after the Crisis, none were more important than his wife. While adventuring, he'd come across Hena's Fishing Hole in the Lanayru Province, and had come to love the relaxing atmosphere and scenery, as well as the relaxing act of fishing. The proprietor of the hole, Hena herself, would let paying customers fish in the pond, or take them out in her boat to cast their lines in better spots, albeit for a higher price. Link had eventually become her best customer, almost always choosing the boat option, for while he found fishing relaxing, he sometimes just needed someone to talk to. He'd been mostly alone on his travels, and though he often wanted to just talk to someone and clear his worries, it was often difficult. Hena was…different. She made him feel at peace, somehow. Almost a year after saving Hyrule, Link had married her in a private ceremony, knowing that if the public were to learn that their great hero were being married, almost all of Hyrule would flock to the wedding and turn it into a disaster.

The change of marriage also brought about a new change for Link. Not long after the end of the Crisis, Link would simply wander here and there on his horse Epona, hoping to find some adventure, or for some adventure to find him. His wish was granted when he was called by Princess Zelda. There had been an ancient artifact in need of recovery in some long forgotten and dangerous cave. She felt Link would be the perfect man to send for it. To this day, he could still see the smile on her face, as if she knew she was answering his prayers, which she honestly was. She probably _did_ know, considering her magical abilities. After successfully recovering it, Link became a sort of Freelance Adventurer for anyone who wished to hire his services. At first, he never asked for any reward, for he found it in the adventure itself. Any reward he did receive was always insisted upon by his employer. Once married, however, Link knew he'd need those rewards. Though Hena's Fishing Hole had made enough income for Hena to live alone comfortably, it just wasn't enough after their wedding. So Link began charging, though he hated to do so, but always at fair prices that balanced the risk of the adventure itself, and the ability of the employer to pay that price. That didn't stop him from doing "favors" for those unable to pay, however. Though Link had changed in many ways, one way he didn't was his need to help others.

The music and dancing stopped as Link and Rusl finished the song, and the villagers applauded their performance. Link was smiling and nodding at various villagers when his sight came upon six knights waiting at the edge of the village, one wearing the ornate armor of an officer.

"Rusl." Link said, his gaze fixed on the knights.

"Yes my boy?" Rusl replied turning to Link. Seeing the look on his face, Rusl followed Link's gaze and saw the knights as well. He then turned to his nearby son Colin and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Colin, do me a favor, son," he started, his voice even and normal. "Go get Mayor Bo and inform him we have visitors. Go on, quickly now." he finished, giving Colin a pat on the shoulder. The boy obediently turned and headed off to the larger Mayor. As Link and Rusl set their instruments down and began moving past the mingling villagers towards the knights, they were joined by Mayor Bo. Before long, the three stood before the knights and nodded respectfully to them.

"Good evening gentlemen, and welcome to Ordon Village. I'm Mayor Bo, how might I be of service to you?" Bo greeted, his voice that of a kind welcoming man, for that was what he was. But the thought in his mind was the same in Link and Rusl's.

_Knights don't just show up in Ordon unless something's up._

"Good evening to you as well, Mayor," the officer of the knights said as he bowed slightly in respect. "I'm Captain Rhodus of the 1st King's Royal Cavalry. I'm here looking for Link." he added, his eyes turning to Link as he said the last part. This didn't go unnoticed by the Hero.

"And you've found him," Link said. "I'm assuming you're here on Royal matters?"

"Indeed we are," Rhodus nodded. "Is there somewhere we can speak in private?"

"There is," Link acknowledged. "But with all due respect, anything you have to say to me you can say to Rusl and Mayor Bo. I trust them with my life, so you have my word that there's no danger in them knowing your business." His voice was stern yet respectful, no insult in it at all. The knights couldn't help but admire that.

"Alright then," Rhodus sighed. "Where may we discuss this in private?"

"My home serves as our town hall," Mayor Bo offered. "We can talk there in peace."

Not long afterwards, the nine found themselves sitting around Mayor Bo's long dining table where meetings of Village Matters were held. The sight of the knights following Bo, Rusl, and Link there had already caused curious whispers to spread like wildfire through the residents. Once situated, Bo urged Rhodus to explain his business.

"I'm sure you're all aware of the civil war brewing in Calatia," Rhodus started. Once the Ordonians confirmed this, he continued. "General Vael, the commander of the rebellion, has made threats to invade parts of Hyrule in order to keeps us from aiding the Loyalists. Princess Zelda has ordered the 1st King's to hold the three passes into Calatia until Hyrule's army is ready for war and can effectively march against Vael. My troop is holding the Kasuto Pass in a small fort called Liberty Rock. For all intents and purposes, it's a gaping hole in our border, and we need to plug it until the army's ready. There's already a small garrison at the fort, but reports indicate it's not enough, especially considering Liberty Rock is the weakest of the three forts guarding the passes. Therefore, the Crown Princess sent us to ask you for your aid. We need all the help we can get, and with you at our side, we may have a chance. At the least, your presence would encourage the men, and they may fight more valiantly. Please, Link. Will you come with us to Liberty Rock? Will you help my men?"

Link sat and thought. A small smirk crossed his face, one a man gets when realizing an obscure irony.

"You're lucky you came here when you did. I don't live here anymore, I was only visiting for the festival. Perhaps you were supposed to find me." he explained with a chuckle. The smirk and chuckle vanished, and Link then looked Rhodus in the eye. "I hate to bring this up, but knowing Zelda she's offered a reward as an incentive. May I ask what it is?"

"I thought the brave hero never asked for a reward?" Rhodus asked with an ironic grin of his own.

"A year ago I wouldn't have," Link explained. "But things are different now. I'm married, and I have a wife to care and provide for." Rhodus seemed noticeably surprised for a moment then shook his head.

"Five thousand rupees in addition to 640 acres of land of your own choosing, anywhere in Hyrule," Rhodus said. He couldn't help but smirk at the impressed whistle Link gave.

"All that just for this one fort, or am I being asked to commit to the entire war?" Link asked.

"Just the fort," Rhodus assured him. "After that, you can return for your reward and ignore the war as long as you deem necessary."

Link then seemed to ponder this for a moment before returning his gaze to Rhodus.

"Before I answer, there's someone I need to consult with. I'll be back shortly." Link explained before standing, walking to the door, and exiting it, making sure to close it behind him.

"I didn't know he was married," Rhodus mused aloud. "Word of that would've spread everywhere almost instantly."

"That's why he didn't want anyone to know." Rusl replied.

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Hena was smiling watching the children play amongst themselves. Colin, the most mature of the four, was also watching, almost as if guarding them. The sword on his back added to the image, Hena noticed with a smile. Link's influence was clearly visible on the boy. She hoped the influence would be just as apparent elsewhere as she rubbed her stomach. She was ignoring the various whispered theories spreading wondering about the knights. Hena already had a good idea why they were there, and she wasn't too fond of it. When a letter asking for Link's adventuring services arrived in Ordon, it would be forwarded by Mayor Bo to Hena's cottage, where Link would get it and learn of the proposed task. She didn't mind his little "business", while he'd be gone on these adventures, he was never gone long. What made this time different was that Link had just returned from an adventure not even two days ago, and she feared he'd already leave on another one. Link rarely turned down a task, at the most he'd postpone it for such things as birthdays or celebrations he was attending. But if Royal knights were involved, it couldn't be postponed. It was big. She was yanked from her thoughts by a strong hand on her shoulder.

"Hello there." Link greeted her with a smile.

"Hello to you too." Hena replied, her gaze returning to the children.

"Would you come with me for a moment? I need your opinion on something." he asked solemnly. Hena nodded, already knowing where this was going, but followed him to a small dock by the large pond at the village's northeast side. For a moment they stood in silence, admiring the pond sparkling in the light of the moon and the various lights and torches throughout the village. Finally, Link broke the silence.

"Princess Zelda's offered me a new task," he said simply. "I'm practically sold on it…but I need to know if you're okay with me leaving so soon." Hena smiled at this. He always seemed to know if something was bothering her, or better yet, what it was.

"I'd be disappointed if you left," Hena admitted. "But I wouldn't hold it against you. What is it this time? Find an ancient tomb and recover some lost treasure? Rescue another damsel in distress?" Link smiled at her teasings, but shook his head.

"Go to war." he replied.

"What?" Hena's voice rose significantly, completely surprised by this. Everyone knew it was a matter of time before Hyrule's Grand Army marched to Calatia, and she'd always feared Link would be called to help, but this soon?

"Essentially, Hena, there's a leak in our border. How do you fix a leak?" Link explained.

"Plug it up until you can repair it." Hena answered.

"Essentially, they want my help plugging it up. Once it's repaired, I can come home, and they'll worry about it. Won't be our problem anymore." Link continued, making Hena sigh in relief. But that relief didn't last long.

"You'll still be fighting though, won't you?" Hena asked.

"Maybe," Link replied honestly. "It depends on if they try getting into Hyrule through where I am. It'd be worth it though."

"How so?" Hena asked curiously.

"Five thousand rupees and 640 acres of land of our own choosing." Link answered. Hena's jaw almost dropping off her face made him really smile for the first time since before the knights had arrived. "How many acres is that one forest meadow near the cottage? The one you've always thought would make a perfect place to build a home for a family?"

"Fo-four hundred acres." Hena said, a big smile coming across her own face.

"Well then, it's almost settled," Link said with a smile before it disappeared. "All I need is your blessing. But if you want me to stay, I won't go anywhere but home."

Hena pondered and knew this answer wouldn't be easy. If she said yes, she and Link could have their perfect family home, not to mention a set education future for their child…or children. She'd be without him for awhile, but it'd be worth it once he returned. But that was the kicker…he might not return at all. He was the Hero of Twilight, a master of the blade and bow, but he wasn't invincible. The scars under his clothing made that explicitly clear. But just as bad was the look she saw in his eyes. Deep down, he really wanted to go. If she said no, he'd stay and follow her wishes, tossing aside his own to make her happy. But he wanted her to say yes. Sometimes she wondered if he knew that…casting aside the thought, Hena concentrated on the dilemma…and reached her decision.

"Okay," she whispered. "Okay. Just promise me something."

"Anything." Link said.

"Promise you'll remember what's waiting for you back home." she said, placing one of his hands on her stomach.

"Always." Link simply replied before kissing her.

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Once Link had returned to Mayor Bo's house, he re-occupied his seat at the table.

"Okay," he simply said. "I'm in."

"Excellent," Rhodus smiled. "If there's anywhere for my men and I to stay, we'll head out first thing in the morning."

"If I may interject," Rusl suddenly spoke up. "You said you needed all the help you could get, correct?"

"Yes, that's right." Rhodus answered.

"Well if you don't mind, I'd like to come along and offer my blade." Rusl said with a humble bow of his head. This made Link and Bo turn to him in surprise.

"Whoa, whoa, Rusl are you serious? With you and Link gone, who'll watch the village?" Bo asked.

"Colin's hunted and killed three wolves this season," Rusl answered, ignorant of the twitch Link gave at that. "He's ready to handle anything that comes. Consider it a test to see if he's ready to move to his next stage of training."

"But why Rusl?" Link asked.

"Link, my boy," Rusl sighed. "I haven't been on a grand adventure of my own in ages." Link and Rusl both knew this wasn't entirely true, but Link didn't say anything. The Group preferred to keep things quiet. "I'm feeling older every year, and I'd like one last hurrah to put under my belt. Besides, I'm handy with a blade as you well know. My experience could be useful."

Link sighed and shook his head.

"Alright. If you want to come, I won't argue." he said.

"Then it's settled," Rhodus said. "We set out tomorrow."

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When the sun rose the next day, the entire village was gathered in the center where the six knights waited with their horses. Rusl was leaning forward, his hands on his knees, eye to eye with Colin.

"You know I have faith in you son," he said calmly and honestly. Colin nodded. "Don't worry, we'll be back before you know it." he added with a smile. He then stood and held his hand out. Colin looked at it for a second, then grasped it and shook it. Rusl smiled, proud oft the young man his son was becoming. Behind him was his horse Booma, his gear packed onto her saddle.

Link tightened the remaining straps on his own saddle bags, effectively anchoring his gear to his trusty steed Epona. There was also a grey shoulder bag on it which contained his violin. He now wore his chain mail shirt under his tunic, his trusty Ordon Sword, Hylian Shield, Hero's Bow, and Giant Quiver, full with 100 arrows, all on his back. The village was somber and quiet as the two departing warriors made their good-byes. Link and Hena shared one last kiss before he mounted Epona. Once Rusl mounted Booma, they waved good-bye to the villagers, Their waves were returned, most vigorously by the children. As the eight riders turned and headed north, the villagers remained quiet, none of them wishing to acknowledge the uneasy feeling of impending doom they all had.


	3. Liberty Rock

**Author's Note: Thanks to Retsof for my second review. As for the rest of you, I'm willing to continue and eventually finish this story no matter how many or little reviews I get, but **_**please**_** review. I like hearing what people have to say about my work, preferably praise or constructive criticism. Now, for the record: I might get a bit redundant in explaining geography or where they are now and then. That's for the sake of people who, like me, don't remember TP Hyrule very well or people like my good beta reader TheSpazzo who doesn't know it at all. Oh, and again, thanks to Spazz for the contributions which only make this story better.**

**One last thing: I've edited a previous chapter referencing the number of the garrison at Liberty Rock. When Troop 2 arrives, all they know is it's a "small" garrison. Also, the layout of the fort may sound confusing. Don't fear, I intend to get some drawings up to hopefully illustrate it. More on that later.**

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_We set out from the Ordona Province while the sun was still partially hidden over the horizon. Hyrule at sunrise is a beautiful sight, and that day three years ago was no different. The grass was green, sparkling with dew, and the birds were singing, The various monsters which had wandered the various parts of Hyrule Field two years before were nowhere to be seen or heard from, and it reminded me of what that mission was all about. To keep that bloodthirsty monster Vael from setting foot into and ruining the beautiful gem of a nation we called home, Hyrule. Now, some may say that I'm jumping to conclusions by calling Vael a bloodthirsty monster, but don't forget, I'm writing this in hindsight, which is the clearest sight of them all. I have seen what Vael does, how he operates. He truly was a monster, even if he was only human._

_The area of Hyrule Field we'd specifically come to was the Faron Province, located north of the Faron Woods, which eventually lead to the Ordona Province. It was here that we turned west off the main roads which spider-webbed throughout Hyrule. The location of the Kasuto Pass was common knowledge amongst the citizens of Hyrule, but it was only used for military travel. Merchants and citizens wishing to travel to Calatia would have to use the other two passes, neither of which would be accessible for obvious reasons. It was nearing afternoon when our eight man riding party came to the Kasuto Pass._

The Hylian side of the Kasuto Pass was a narrow opening in the rock wall that naturally bordered the Faron Province. It was an out of the way location, one people rarely, if ever, went searching for. If you didn't know where it was, you might not ever find it. If you did, you'd find a stone archway with a steel gate blocking the pass, manned by Knights of Hyrule. Camped just outside of the gate was the rest of Troop 2, its knights preparing their various weapons. They sharpened blades, arrows, fiddled with bowstrings, and adjusted their armor. Patrolling atop the gate-arch were a handful of regular knights, some armed with bows, others with spears. Their stature and attitudes made it obvious they weren't as disciplined as those of the Royal Cavalry.

As the eight riders approached the camp, the knights looked to them, and whispers started, and soon were a cacophony as their words mixed.

"It's him! The Hero of Twiligh-"

"The man who can do the impossible! He's really-"

"He actually came! There's no way Vael's forces can-"

Ignoring all the murmuring and gossiping, the riders pushed towards the center of the camp where Lieutenant Falod was exiting his ten.

"Welcome back, Captain," he greeted Rhodus then turned to the center of the troop's attention. "And welcome, Hero. It's an honor to have you at our side."

"I appreciate it, but I'm afraid you and your men are making too much a fuss over this," Link replied with a humble smile. "I'm just a simple warrior who goes where he's needed."

"Lieutenant," Rhodus interjected as he dismounted. "Have the men break camp and prepare to ride. We make way to Liberty Rock. All goes well, we'll arrive a few hours before sundown."

"Yes sir," Falod nodded. "You heard him, men! Break camp! Gather your gear and supplies, we're moving out!" he barked as he moved out towards other parts of the camp, no doubt to oversee the moving effort.

"If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I must speak with the gatekeepers," Captain Rhodus said as he turned to the still mounted knight squad, Rusl, and Link. "If you wish to speak to the men, you may, but be ready to mount and ride the instant we're ready." With that, Rhodus turned and began leading his horse towards the gate, where the regular knights all stood gawking in disbelief at Link. They'd slouched and lost what little discipline they had.

"I wonder why the majority of the Hylian Knights are of such incompetent warriors," Rusl wondered aloud. It was a known fact that, save for select units, including the Royal Cavalry Squadrons and the Royal Guard Battalions, almost the entirety of the regular knights in the Hylian Grand Army were boisterous, arrogant cowards.

"With them fighting in our army," Link grumbled. "This war might last longer than it should." He truly hoped that only the knights at the gateway pass and in Castle Town on boring guard stations were such poor, incompetent warriors. There just _had_ to be excellent warriors in the regular army, but Link had never seen one. At the gateway, they only continued to gawk at him, forcing Rhodus to shout to gather what little of their attention he could.

"Much longer."

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Only a few minutes later, the 62 riders moved through the gates and began traversing the rocky pass. It was flat ground all the way through, but it was a long journey. The ravine's walls rose on both sides, wave of rocks, stone, and caves. Two scouts were a little ways ahead of the main party, watching for any signs of trouble, which would most likely be dangerous wildlife. They continued pushing west, then southwest, following the long path and thankful they were on horseback. At some point, there was a subtle change in the environment. No one could tell what it was. The rocks looked the same, but the air felt…different. Whether it was climate or simply the quality of the air, they all knew in their bones what it meant: they were no longer in Hyrule.

The sun was in the afternoon stages when the riders came to the end of the pass. Unlike the Hylian side, the Calatian side had no gate. Before them was a barren rocky terrain of dirt and sand. It was a desert, but not like the Gerudo Desert. It was hot, but only slightly more so than the fields of Hyrule. They would probably be much more uncomfortable later on enduring this climate in their armor, but for now, the Hylian warriors were comfortable. Directly ahead of them to their right, northwest, the sand and dirt formed a basin which they were at the bottom of. One side of the basin stretched east to the mountain range the Kasuto Pass was located in, the other stretched south, eventually lowering to the elevation level of the ground the Royal Cavalry currently stood on. At the top center of the basin's edge was a structure of stone walls, only partially visible from this lower elevation.

Liberty Rock.

Rhodus whistled and turned his horse to the left, heading south. The others followed, then the whole party turned around onto the rise that led to and made up on side of the basin. They rode up the gradual slope, making their way north. Ahead, the stone fortress was more clearly visible, at least one wall of it. In the center was a large gate, and men in dark armor could be seen atop the wall. Link rode along at the extreme right of the party, Epona's hooves mere feet from the edge which dipped into the basin. As they rode, he studied it. Its slopes leading up were steep, but a man could climb them on foot. However, the higher he went, the slower he'd become. His progress would be impeded, and he'd become an easy target for archers on the wall who could fire into the basin, which made up the entire area outside the fort's southeast perimeter. Link grinned at the ingenuity of how the fort utilized the natural land formation as part of the defenses.

Lieutenant Falod nodded to a nearby knight who retrieved a pole tied to his saddle. The knight untied a strap at the end of the pole, unfolding the banner displaying the Royal Crest of Hyrule: the red phoenix over the Triforce. Another knight raised a horn to his lips and blew. When the horn's call echoed into the distance, the soldiers atop the south wall began moving about, and shouting could be heard from the fort's interior. As they approached the wall, the gate split open, swinging inwards to reveal a dusty courtyard, and a man standing with his arms crossed, a suit of humble dark armor and a cape adorning his body. Beside him was a man of similar armor, sans cape. As the 62 Hylian Knights entered and dismounted, Captain Rhodus, Lieutenant Falod, Link, and Rusl stepped forward and respectfully bowed to the man who was obviously in command of the fort's garrison. This man smiled, a look of both relief and disappointment somehow appearing on his face together.

"Welcome to the Rock," the man said, his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm Colonel Gavelston, commander of the Calatian Loyalists here in Liberty Rock. This is my assistant, Turo."

"Greetings, great warriors," Turo bowed, obviously more enthusiastic of the cavalry's arrival than the calm Gavelston. "You don't know how glad we are to have reinforcements such as yourself. The Crown Princess promised her best warriors, and she's always kept her word."

"And she did this time as well," Rhodus replied. "I'm Captain Rhodus, commander of Troop 2 of the 1st King's Royal Cavalry Squadron. Though I believe myself to be a humble man, Ido believe we are in fact the best warriors in Hyrule. We also have an even greater warrior among us."

"So I see," Colonel Gavelston said, his eyes fixed on the green tunic-wearing warrior standing to the side of the other new arrivals. "Welcome Hero of Twilight. The tales of your adventures reach even here to Calatia, and I feel very relieved to know you're fighting alongside my men and me." Link sighed, almost as if in defeat, though no one noticed.

"I assure you, it is I who has the honor of being here with you." Link replied.

"A reputation of a god-like being, but the humility of a wise man," Gavelston mused, then smiled. "I respect that. Now, let's get to business. Captain, I would like to give you and the Hero a personal tour of our…defenses. If your men would like to unpack, the stables and barracks are just over there." Gavelston indicated a large and long building which made up the center and majority of the East Wall. Rhodus agreed, and Falod set about leading the cavalry and their horses into the stables. Link soothingly spoke to Epona and, surprising the men watching from the walls, the horse seemed to head for the stable itself. This already caused whispers to start among the Calatian Loyalists. Soon, it was down to Gavelston, Turo, Rhodus, Link, and Rusl standing in the dirt courtyard behind the main gate.

As the cavalrymen had been heading in, Link had taken in the fort's general layout. It seemed to be a simple rectangular perimeter of grey stone walls, save for the East Wall. The majority of it was made of the barracks and stable building. And, just south of that building, was a structure which stood out from the rest of the fort like a sore thumb. Rather than the same grey stone the rest of the fort was made of, this one, large block building was made of a shiny black glass-like rock that seemed to have no business in such a desert environment. It was ornately decorated, and in the front of it was a set of open doors like a smaller more intricately designed and decorated version of the main gate. There seemed to be a gap between the black structure and the South Wall, but when the courtyard cleared of the troop, he saw what appeared to be a small raised sidewalk with a line of parapets.

"If you'd follow me, gentleman, we'll begin at the Main Battery," Gavelston said before walking towards the southwest corner of the fort compound, where a wooden ramp led to a stone platform which served at the junction of the South and West Walls. On it, was a large cannon, obviously one designed for military use, unlike the one above Lake Hylia. As they approached it, Link scanned the West Wall. It was the longest and contained several small sleeping or storage quarters. The roofs of these quarters remained flat and even with the top of the wall, making it easier to walk along. There were chest high parapets lining the outside edge of the wall, which gave archers cover to fire from.

"This is the twenty pounder," Gavelston said, waving his arm towards the cannon which six Loyalist knights were cleaning and maintaining. "It's called so because it fires a twenty pound ball, and is the most powerful of the five artillery pieces in the fort. It's placed here at the southwest to cover both the south and west approaches. My best artillerymen man it, and are able to fire it continuously and adjust aim after every shot with the accuracy of a lifelong archer." He then began walking north atop the West Wall, his assistant and guests following him.

"These are personal officers' quarters and storage rooms for arrows, gunpowder for the cannon, and other such essentials," Gavelston said, indicating the rooms they walked over. "I've saved one for you, Captain Rhodus, but I'm afraid you're going to have to stay in the barracks with the rest of the men, Master Hero."

"Link," the hero in question politely corrected. "Call me Link. And don't worry, I'll be fine. I've had worse sleeping conditions."

"Very well," Gavelston said. "Next is the North Wall. It raises extreme concern due to the fact that it's the weakest point of the fort." When they were in clear view of the North Wall, the three new arrivals had the same thought.

_That's more than just an understatement._

The wall itself was stone, like the rest of the fort, but it was only a shell of what it once was. The stone was weak and thin as a sheet of wood. There weren't even parapets, it seemed that only the the outermost part of the wall remained. There wasn't even a surface to walk on. To solve this, a long, berm of hard dirt was packed up against it from the inside to reinforce it. This berm was packed flat at the top, and low enough so that the edge of what was once the floor of the wall would be chest high to anyone standing on the berm. To reinforce it even further, there were two wooden ramp/platform batteries identical to the one in the southeast corner, both spaced equidistant from the East and West Walls, and with enough space between them for a few men to stand. Each held two cannons, twelve pounders, Gavelston explained. Where the North and West Walls met, a stairway led down to the courtyard ground alongside the West Wall. Walking east, they came to the north end of the East Wall, which had an identical staircase leading to the top. There, Gavelston showed them the magnificent view of the mountain range they'd travelled through. This part of the wall was identical to the top of the West Wall, save that it was much shorter. The majority of the top was the large barracks building, which was two floors.

"Those windows make perfect archer posts," Gavelston pointed out. "Too small to climb in, should they have the ladders to reach, and too hard to shoot into from the outside during a battle, but archers inside have perfect elevation." Leading them back down the stairway, Gavelston led them past the stable and into the barracks. The first floor seemed cramped with bunk beds and tables to eat on. The second floor was the medical area, where the sick and wounded would be tended to. Back on the first floor, they were shown a door at the west end of the south wall. Exiting it, they found the black-glass structure to their left.

"This is the building that started it all," Gavelston said as he led them inside. "It was made of a special mineral rock that no longer exists in Calatia. This is the only remaining sample. It's called the Keep. It was originally built as a shrine to the deities worshipped in the days of the Ancient Kingdom of Calatia. When the New Kingdom took reign, that religion was banished due to its brutal ways, and the structure became a pointless building in the middle of nowhere. The king had a fort built around it, recognizing the significance of guarding what we now call the Kasuto Pass. It serves as the final fallback position, where the last of a garrison may take shelter should the fort be taken. Then, they're to use this." With that, Gavelston approached a statue which he reached up and pulled the arm of. The statue shook, then slid back to reveal a stairway leading into a dark passage.

"It leads to a shallow cave in the side of the Kasuto Pass. You passed it without even knowing. Once upon a time, I did too. You see, the existence of this passage is known only to those who're stationed here. Other than my men and me, anyone else who's ever been stationed here is now dead. General Vael and his men don't know it's there, and won't be able to pursue anyone who uses it until he finds it by accident, or learns of it much later. Either way, it'll be too late. The survivors will be gone."

"But the fort will have fallen." Link pointed out.

"Indeed, so let's hope we never have to use it," Gavelston agreed before pushing the statue's arm back up, closing it. He then led them outside and turned to the left, where that raised sidewalk that caught Link's attention earlier was.

"This, is the Low Wall, fittingly named, you can see," Gavelston said with a chuckle at the incredulous looks Link, Rhodus, and Rusl gave it. Here inside the fort, it seemed to just be a raised walkway of stone diagonally leading from the Keep to the South Wall with parapets lining the outside edge to provide cover. What bothered them was that it was so low, all a man had to do was raise his leg above his knee and he'd be able to step onto it, making the three sets of four stairs pointless. But once on it, they saw what made it effective: the outside of the Low Wall was the slope of the basin they'd seen after coming out of the pass.

"Ten good archers could hold this wall against an entire army, assuming they had enough arrows." Gavelston boasted.

"I understand the need of Hyrule's best," Rusl said, his gaze drifting about the walls. "Given the condition of the fort, I'd want them too…but something bugs me."

"What's that?" Gavelston asked.

"Well, first, how many men is this fort designed to be defended by?" Rusl enquired, admiring the stonework of the Keep's exterior.

"At minimum, it's effectively defended by 300." Gavelston said, his tone turning grim.

"How many men do you have exactly?" Link asked, trying to count what knights he could see. He could already tell it wasn't enough.

"One hundred and fourty-one." Gavelston answered. There was a silence among them as it sunk in.

"So…with us…we only have 203 men defending this place?" Rhodus asked hesitantly.

"I'm afraid so," Gavelston sighed. A look amongst the Hylians confirmed they were suddenly unsure of their decision to come. Suddenly, the door to the barracks burst open, and a man as large as a Darknut emerged, having to duck until he was in the open. He wore dirty, battered armor, nothing in design like that of the Calatian Loyalists.

"Ah, Bargus!" Gavelston called to the giant. "Come meet our new reinforcements!" The giant cracked his neck and approached, a welcoming smile under his beard. Only Link noticed it, Rhodus and Rusl too occupied with staring at the humongous axe on his back.

"Well, what 'ave we 'ere?" Bargus asked, his voice coated with the most unusual accent the Hylians had ever heard. "If this ain't the bloody 'ero of Twilight, I'll burn mah bagpipes! I'm Bargus, of the Burok Province. I'm 'onored to wield mah axe alongside yer sword!" he said, slamming his fist to his chest as an honorable form of greeting. Link grinned at the giant's personality and bowed his head.

"If I may say," Link said. "The name 'Bargus' sounds familiar to me."

"I'm not surprised," Gavelston said. "When the war started, Bargus defeated an entire troop of Rebel cavalry alone. He's one of the more well known warriors in Calatia."

"We oughta get alon' just fine, 'ero!" Bargus grinned broadly.

"Link," the Hero of Twilight replied with a grin of his own. "My name's Link."

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_The rest of the day spent, Troop 2 familiarized itself with the compound's layout. Most of the troop was assigned to the West Wall, as it needed more men to hold its long battlement. The troop's ten best archers were assigned to the Low Wall. I was fortunate enough to be one of them. Link and Rusl seemed to adopt it as their station as well._

_That night, we enjoyed what everyone knew would be our last bountiful meal for awhile. The food, drink, and stories made us all relax, and in that moment we enjoyed being alive. Bargus retrieved his "bagpipes", an odd instrument from his home province, and began playing music to which the men sang drinking songs, and songs of war and heroes. Before long, Link joined in with his violin, and we sang the night away. I remember that night fondly. It was the last time I have truly happy in the last three years._


	4. Hemmed Up

**Author's Note: Okay, this one kinda took awhile to get up. I apologize to the four or so people who actively read this story, and I wanna say thanks to Tricksters Imagination for the most in-depth review I've gotten on anything. I hope you guys (and more) keep coming back to this story, and it keeps your attention. I'd like to take a moment and say thanks to TheSpazzo, once again, for the beta reading he provides, and I'd also suggest you guys check his stuff out, especially if you're a Half Life 2 fan. **

**Also, though I can't think of the words to perform an effective Google search for evidence, I swear recalling reading or hearing somewhere that fog has an odd effect on acoustics of sound, messing with echoes and such. Whether it's actually true or not, I'm saying it is for the sake of the story. I'm also exaggerating the extent to which it affects hearing.**

**Disclaimer: See chapter 1.**

********************

The sun was just starting to rise, but one couldn't see it because of all the fog. It was unusual for this area, as any Calatian would know. Several such Calatians stood at different positions on the various walls of the fort, two at each point. Sentries armed with ranged weapons were set to look for approaching dangers, though this seemed impossible given the fog. The southernmost pair on the West Wall was passing the time with idle chit-chat. The two knights at this post, a bowman and a crossbowman, were doing their best to remain alert and fight off the boredom of the grey endless cloud that was everywhere, but they were not having much success.

"Some night," the bowman commented.

"Indeed," the crossbowman replied. "I never really liked that blasted instrument Bargus played, but something about last night made it enjoyable."

"I'm still shocked at how much liquor he can hold. I guess men from the Burok Province really are just that hardy."

"Fog's lightening up,"

"Really? I don't notice it…"

A dull _thump _made the two turn around swiftly. It seemed to echo from the barracks across the courtyard. After settling down, the crossbowman grinned at the bowman.

"Maybe Bargus fell out of his cot?"

"Or through it," the bowman replied chuckling. "I swear I don't know how it supports him. He sleeps in his armor, for Nayru's sake!"

"That I doubt we'll ever know. Say, is that the Hero of Twilight?" the crossbowman asked pointing to a figure exiting the barracks. He wasn't wearing armor, which was restricted for knights of all kinds unless they were in quarters.

"It is. I don't know about you, but I'm glad he's on our side."

"Who isn't? If Vael shows his ugly face around here, he won't stand a chance. Outnumbered or not, we can't possibly lose."

As they spoke, Link had in fact been making his way across the courtyard to the southwest corner. He walked up the wooden ramp to the twenty-pounder battery and looked out over the parapet into the fog, which did in fact seem to be dissipating.

"Good morning Master Hero!" the bowman greeted. Link turned to the sentries with a smile and walked along the wall to their position.

"Good morning," Link greeted.

"The stories didn't mention you being such a good musician, Master Hero," the crossbowman said.

"There's a lot the stories don't mention," Link replied, his smile shrinking to a grin. Though neither of the archers noticed, there was no humor to it, in fact it seemed almost rueful. "And please, just call me Link."

"Right, Master Her-uh, Link," the bowman corrected himself.

"Is this fog usual weather?" Link asked.

"No sir," the crossbowman answered. "It was much thicker earlier, though, which is even more peculiar. I think it'll be completely gone in a few minutes."

"Interesting…" Link mused, then trailed off. His mind seemed to be elsewhere. A distant _thump_, eerily similar to the one the archers had heard earlier, snatched it back to the here and now. This time, it seemed to have come from the north.

"That's odd…" the crossbowman mentioned.

"What do you think-" the bowman started, but was shushed by Link. The hero raised his hand and cupped one of his long Hylian ears. There was a moment of quiet, and the two archers saw the concentration in Link's eyes. This was followed by the realization. Without saying anything, Link turned and bolted down the ramp into the courtyard and ran to the door to Colonel Gavelston's quarters in the West Wall and began pounding on it.

"Colonel Gavelston!" Link cried, his voice echoing about the courtyards in an odd manner. He began pounding again. "Colonel Gavelston!" The door immediately to Link's left opened and Turo exited, wearing his sleeping clothes.

"Master Hero, what are you do-"

"I need to see Colonel Gavelston!" Link cut off the officer's assistant. The urgency in his voice didn't seem to phase him, however.

"I'm sorry, Master Hero, but he can't be disturbed this early,"

"Turo, this is important! I need to see him _now!_"

"But-"

Turo was cut off again, this time by Gavelston's door opening and the colonel stepping out. It was obvious he'd been awoken, but it didn't seem to bother him.

"Yes, Master Link? You seem to have something important you wish to discuss with me." He replied, not quite sarcastically, but obviously annoyed.

"Sir, I apologize for not-" Turo started to apologize, but he was silenced by Link's next statement.

"Colonel Gavelston, they're here."

For a moment, the officer only stared at him. Then he turned and rushed back into his quarters. The sound of shuffling objects was heard before he remerged holding a telescope. Walking briskly with Link and Turo on his heels, Gavelston headed along the West Wall, climbed up the wooden ramp to the twenty-pounder battery, and came to the parapet. Extending the telescope, he put it to his eye and began scanning through the fog, which was now in fact thinner than it had been earlier.

"I don't see anything," Gavelston said after a moment, his voice sounding distracted with his thorough search. "What made you think-wait…" Gavelston's scanning froze. Through his telescope, barely visible through the fog, was an unnatural formation. It was made of wood, sticks, really, and he knew what it was: fortifications for cannons, mainly used to protect the crews from archer fire. It seemed pointless, though, because at the range they were set, the cannons were out of bow shot. Through the mist, he could make out figures moving about: knights in armor identical to that of the Calatian Loyalists in Liberty Rock, save for two minor differences. The Loyalists' armor was dark blue, almost black, and made of a light metal that was effective at deflecting blows, but was maneuverable and light. The new arrivals' armor was crimson red, not as shiny, made of a material that was heavier than the Loyalists', and distinctly visible in white-grayish mist.

Gavelston lowered his telescope instantly and turned to Link and Turo.

"Turo, help me with my armor. Master Link, get to the barracks, get everyone up, now!"

Without wasting time to reply, Link turned and bolted down the ramp into the courtyard. Looking to his left, he saw Captain Rhodus exit his own personal quarters, wearing his full armor, obviously awoken by Link's racket. When he saw the hero running for the barracks, he got the picture something was going on. Giving chase, it wasn't long before Link burst into the barracks yelling, with Rhodus right behind him.

********************

_I don't remember what I'd been dreaming that morning. I just remember that it was pleasant, and I wasn't too fond of being ripped from it by Link and Captain Rhodus running about the barracks, screaming and banging plates together, raising as much ruckus as they could to get us up and moving. Rusl was one of the first to spring to action, and within minutes, the whole garrison was in armor and heading to the courtyard. Most ran to their positions on the wall, the sound of their armored feet running over sand, stone, and wood echoing everywhere in the Rock. Some, myself included, ran for the storage rooms of the West Wall. We gathered all the arrows we could and shoved them into barrels and crates and began carrying them to various positions among the walls. I carried one barrel to the top of the West Wall, then helped bring a large crate to the little "yard" before the Keep that was flanked by the Barracks to the north, and the Low Wall to the southeast. This had all taken several minutes, and by the time we were all in our positions with our weapons ready, the mist that had hung in the air had dissipated completely, revealing a chilling sight._

_Deep in the basin before the Low Wall, where I was posted, was a large battalion of infantry, knights armed with sword and spears. A detachment of archers was seen behind them, and behind them was a cannon battery housing two cannons. I never saw good views of the rest of the forces, but I've been told of how the enemy was arranged around us. Five battalions and three batteries were positioned before the North Wall. Three batteries and three battalions were positioned before the north end of the East Wall, two batteries and three battalions before the South Wall, but the worst was before the West Wall. Three regiments, twelve battalions total, and several cannon batteries were positioned facing the wall, and far behind them was the headquarters of whoever was charge of this army which had come from the mist. All of those forces were on our doorsteps, far out of bow range, but easily within cannon range. Unfortunately, they had much more cannons than we did, and all we could do was wait._

********************

When the Loyalists in the Rock had finally taken their positions, they all readied their bows and crossbows for the attack they expected. They all knew it would come any minute, so they waited. And waited. And waited. Almost an hour had passed before Link, Rusl, Captain Rhodus, Bargus, Turo, and Colonel Gavelston all stood at the twenty-pounder battery, which gave them the best view of the enemy's main force. Link and Rusl held their bows in their hands, Bargus had a large crossbow attached to his hip, and Colnel Gavelston had a crossbow of his own strapped to his back. It was intricately designed with beautiful carvings and bore the name "Themis" carved into the stock. Turo bore no weapons save for a twin crossbow to Gavelston's which was named "Eirene". They were both gifts to Gavelston from his mentor in the Calatian Army, who'd given them to him as a sign of their friendship. The names which differentiated them meant "justice" and "peace" respectively, ideals which Gavelston had fought for his entire career. Though Turo could not actually fight, Gavelston had boasted him to be the fastest at reloading crossbows in the entire country, and so the two would work as a team in battle, Turo loading while Gavelston actually fired.

It was a little before noon when the six saw two figures on horseback approaching the fort, one holding a white flag of treaty.

"Seems their commander wants a peaceful solution to this," Rusl commented.

"I'd disagree," Gavelston replied, his gaze never leaving the riders. "Vael would've ordered his commander to offer no quarter if he weren't here."

"What makes you think he _is_ here?" Rhodus asked.

"That flag," Gavelston replied, pointing to a large banner which had been waving from the top of an erected pole since before the fog had cleared. "It's only flown in the presence of the supreme commander of the army, according to the traditions of the Ancient Calatians. Vael always had an affinity for their traditions. That's why they wear the obsolete armor. It has no advantages to what we wear, but it has a significant meaning in Ancient Calatian battle."

"That being?" Bargus asked, his curiosity peaked.

"If a warrior or, more importantly, his commander is wounded, no one would see his blood. Thus their morale would not be affected, and they would fight as valiantly as ever. It would also affect the enemy's morale, as it would seem they were invincible, could not bleed." Gavelston explained.

"So if he would want no quarter offered, why is there a treaty part before our doorstep?" Rhodus asked.

"I have a pretty good idea, but I'll humor him," Gavelston explained. "Turo, ready a horse. Captain Rhodus, Hyrule has just as much a stake, if not more so, than Calatia in this fort's standing. You may go with him to represent your people."

"What do you want us to negotiate for?" Rhodus asked.

"He won't negotiate," Gavelston replied grimly. Several minutes later, Rhodus and Turo rode out to meet the treaty "negotiators" while the majority of the garrison watched from the West and South Walls. The four horse-mounted warriors stood in the sun and spoke. A piece of paper was handed to Captain Rhodus. After he read it, he seemed to begin speaking with aggravation. The Rebel negotiators simply turned and rode off back towards their camp. Rhodus and Turo did the same, returning through the gates of Liberty Rock minutes later. Bargus and Gavelston stood on the ramp, just short of its joining point of the West Wall. Link and Rusl remained at the West Wall's parapets, their hearing able to listen to the coming conversation while they continued to observe the enemy. Rhodus and Turo walked up the ramp and joined the other two near the top.

"What'd they want?" Bargus asked.

"Those 'negotiators'," Rhodus started, spitting the word with disgust and sarcasm. "Were bringing a demand from General Vael: unconditional surrender."

"Lemme get this straight," Bargus said. "He wants us to just give up an' let 'em do whatever they bloody want to us afterwards?"

"That's right," Gavelston confirmed. "Anything from sending us home unarmed to torturing us for information, to flat out executing us all."

"I think I know what they have in mind," Link said, turning back to the others and raising his voice to be heard. He turned back to the enemy encampment, and the others joined him and Rusl at the parapets. A new flag had been added to the pole, a simple plain of blood red.

"Now what the 'ell does _that_ mean?" Bargus asked, unrecognizing an international symbol in warfare.

"Let me put it to you this way, Bargus," Captain Rhodus said. "If during battle your only choices are to beg for mercy or die, save your breath."

********************

_The hours seemed to tick by slowly. We all remained at our posts and simply waited for the enemy outside our walls to attack. The wait was endless in multiple ways. Time seemed to move at the rate of growing grass. Not only that, the attack never came. We waited through the afternoon, eating our lunches at our posts, not wanting to leave the walls for a second. I don't remember who, but someone had made sandwiches and had carried them about from one corner of the fort, and made his way all the way around, ensuring everyone got one. Whispers spread amongst the men, and soon everyone was coming with their own theories on how the enemy had arrived so soon, gotten so close. I believed the most logical theory: they arrived during our festival, and rather than attacking us and finishing us off with our guard dropped, they'd set up their positions and waited. They were going to have their fun with a scared, caged animal. It was definitely Vael's style, _

********************

The sky was a mixture of bright orange, blaring purple, and looming black. The sun would be completely down in a matter of minutes. The defenders of Liberty Rock had already lit the torches in the fort's interior in preparation of night, and a small campfire was being prepared just behind the Low Wall. The defenders had their attention focused on the Rebels outside the walls, as it had been all day. But now, it was focused on the enemy for another reason.

_Clack-clack-cla-clack, clack clack clack, clack cllllllllllllllllllllllllllllcack, clack-clack-cla-clack_

Snare drums. There were snare drums being played in the Rebel Headquarters. Captain Rhodus, Colonel Gavelston, Bargius, and Turo were standing atop the twenty-pounder battery, Link and Rusl walking up the ramp to join them. The two Ordonians still held their bows, ready for whatever came. The looks on their face, however, showed they weren't expecting music.

"Of all the bloody things to bring to a war…they bring a band?" Bargus spoke up as Link and Rusl took spots in the little "war council" the six had seemed to form.

"He probably plans to have something to celebrate after all this," Rusl commented.

"What are they playing?" Link asked just after trumpets and horns joined the percussion section, blasting a boasting tune of power and victory.

"It's an Ancient Calatian war tune called 'Casandea'." Gavelston explained. None of them took their eyes off the enemy, even as they spoke.

"That title sounds lovely." Link commented.

"In Ancient Calatian, 'casandea' means 'beheading'," Gavelston replied with an ironic grin. Link turned his head and looked at him for a moment before he returned his gaze to the enemy force in the distance.

"Interesting,"

"Does it have some special meanin', too?" Bargus asked.

"Same as the red flag," Turo spoke up. "No quarter asked for or given. No mercy."

"The Ancient Calatians would play it before a battle to demolish enemy fighting morale," Gavelston explained. "After the New Kingdom took over, we continued the practice, but didn't follow through with the threat. The demoralized enemy would surrender out of fear, we'd take them prisoner, and there would be much less blood-shed on both sides. But…"

"But?" Rusl prompted.

"But General Vael was notorious for only using it in its…historical context," Gavelston finally said.

"Why did your kingdom allow him to keep his position if he was so fond of such brutal ways?" Rhodus asked.

"Honestly…I don't know,"

As if on cue, the song ended in a trailing, fading note. Then, there was quiet. The only sound was that of wind which barely blew. Minutes passed in what seemed like hours.

"So…do you think they'll attack tonight?" Bargus asked no one in particular.

"Maybe, but I'd rather-" Gavelston began to reply, but was cut off by the explosion of a firing cannon. Every man in the fort jerked, and by the time the ball landed in the outside of the West Wall and shook the fort's foundations, Link and Ruls were already sprinting back to the Low Wall. Bargus was stampeding back to the East Wall like a large charging boar, Colonel Gavelston and Turo bolted for the North Wall. Captain Rhodus remained at the West Wall with most of his men. More shells were fired and exploded on the fort's exterior, some landed in the walls and shattered the ground, creating small pockets. These shells came from every cannon outside the walls, all firing in a massive bombardment, sending ordnance over or into the walls. The West Wall was taking the most hits, the North Wall was only hit once or twice, and the Low Wall wasn't hit at all. The shells aimed at it simply sailed over into the main courtyard. Throughout the bombardment, the defenders waited for the Rebel infantry to advance, but it never did. The bombardment thundered on, literally for hours, though it seemed even longer to the men in Liberty Rock.

The hours dragged on, most men's hearing broken into a shrill ringing or muffled thumps through the cotton that wasn't really in their ears. The bombardment seemed to never end, until it finally did mere hours before sunrise. Even then, the defenders didn't relax, expecting an infantry attack to come at any moment. So they remained alert, waiting, and anxious. Waiting. And waiting.


	5. Morning in the Rock

**Author's Note: Thanks go to CatVista, who posted my latest review as of typing this chapter. I don't really see how my writing style "has this epic quality to it; it feels like it could be a legend from Greek or Spartan times", but I like to think other people are better judges of my work than I, so I'll roll with it. Thanks.**

**This is unrelated and irrelevant to the story, but I find it a fun little coincidence nonetheless. I recently finally got GTA IV (my mother was adamant I couldn't play it until I was 18), and I've been playing it a lot lately. Well, when driving I listen to the classic rock station, because I love good ole' rock 'n' roll (AC/DC, Aerosmith, Queen, Guns 'n' Roses, they are my bread and butter). Those who've played the game probably get where this is going. The classic rock station for Liberty City, GTA IV's setting, is of course called "Liberty Rock". Who'd a'thunkit?**

**EDIT: I actually typed this back in September or October. I never got it posted because, while my friend Myzak is beta reading my Halo fic "No Good", he's not interested in Zelda, so I'd been looking for a beta for this. I found a really good one, Master Odin, but a message convo explained that he was taking a sorta "vacation" from beta reading until after Christmas. So, until he comes back, I'm just gonna post this un-betaed. When he's back, and if he accepts my offer, we'll go over this chapter and re-upload a redone version if necessary.**

**********************  
**

There's a distinct difference between silence and quiet. Both are essentially the absence of sound, but silence has a positive quality to it. Silence is calming, tranquil. Peaceful. A sleeping baby is silent. A forest meadow in the calm breeze of spring is silent. But quiet is different. Quiet has an undertone to it, an underlying tension, a growing anticipation of something awful to come. A child waiting for his wisdom teeth to be pulled is quiet. A prisoner waiting for the noose or the guillotine is quiet. Alternatively, quiet is also in the aftermath of something awful, such as a hurricane or tornado.

This morning, Liberty Rock was quiet.

The sun was low in the sky, only an hour or so after dawn. All throughout the fort's interior, men lay on the walls or the ground, covered in dust and dirt flown about by the cannonade of the night before. Their breathing was shallow, their sleep light and fitful, but welcome. The torches and campfire had been extinguished by the morning breeze, and lack of care in the fire's case. Almost everyone in the fort was quiet as they slept. Only a few were quiet as they sat awake.

One of them was Link. He was sitting on the ground, leaning his back against the large crate of arrows which sat behind the Low Wall. His right arm cradled his bow to his chest, his left held a thin blanket around his arms. His eyes were open, simply staring off in the general direction of the West Wall. The bags under his eyes showed he'd gotten literally no sleep the night before, but anyone who knew Link knew it wouldn't bother him more than just as an inconvenience. He could go longer than the average person without sleep, and sometimes he was glad for it. Right now, he just didn't care. All around him, most laying on the ground, but some on the Low Wall, the ten best archers of the Royal Cavalry, as well as Rusl, lay on their back, blankets covering their torsos. Link's eyes were locked in one position, staring at nothing really, but just staring. When he finally moved his eyes side to side, slowly scanning the entire West Wall, he seemed almost to make a signal the garrison had been waiting for. The whole lot of them began waking up, almost like a chain reaction. Men threw their blankets off, wiped their faces, groaned, moaned, and yawned. They stretched as they stood at their posts, none having slept in the barracks, and looked out into the enemy to ensure they were still there, hoping they weren't, hoping it was all a bad dream from the celebration. It wasn't. The Rebels were still there.

Link peeled his own blanket off before standing and stretching his stiff back. Turning, he took the usual high step onto the Low Wall and looked out onto the enemy below in the basin. Rusl soon came beside him, finishing a yawn. The two simply stood there for a moment, observing the already active enemy below as they went about their own morning tasks.

"Some night," Rusl finally broke the silence, his gaze remaining on the enemy below.

"Indeed," Link replied.

* * *

_That morning was the first of several when, before we even ate breakfast, members of the garrison were selected to retrieve supplies from the storage rooms and begin repairing the most grievous of damages caused by the cannonade. The West Wall's exterior had taken the most hits, but none of them were worth repairing. The exterior of a wall is designed to take such extended beatings repeatedly after all. The front of the barracks, located inside the fort, had also taken some hits, and a few had to be repaired. But the two hits to the exterior of the North Wall gave the most concern. The North Wall was barely standing on the outside as it was, its interior almost entirely made of dirt and the two cannon batteries. The two hits had made large holes which some of that dirt was escaping through, and cracks had spider-webbed from them. So, several knights, including myself, were sent through the gate to the outside of the fort. Sticking close to the walls, we moved along the West Wall before reaching and beginning to repair the North Wall. Archers atop the walls kept watch should the enemy try mounting an attack, but it was highly unlikely. At the range they were, unless they wanted to charge across several hundred yards of open ground under heavy archer fire, their only choice of attack was cannon fire, which wasn't accurate enough to pick off the repairmen outside the walls. It didn't keep us from being nervous, though. Still, despite the misgivings of some, including me, we'd set to work._

********************_  
_

Directly below him, Colonel Gavelston watched as the dozen or so men filled the holes with dirt and a mixture of quick-dry stone. He stood on the West Wall's northernmost point, standing beside the wall's lone north-facing parapet. His body was facing east, his head turned to his left and down, watching the repair crew. Before him, standing on the dirt interior of the North Wall and leaning against the West Wall on his elbow, was Captain Rhodus, who was helping watch the enemy to the north.

"Every night, I'm sure," Gavelston answered a comment Rhodus had made regarding the frequency of cannonades like last night's. "It's the only logical thing to do in his position. Deprive us of sleep and peace, wear our endurance down, then, when we can barely stand, hit us with a fatal assault."

"What can we do against that strategy?" Rhodus asked, his gaze never leaving the enemy cannon batteries in the distance.

"Nothing, really," Gavelston admitted, his gaze also turning to the batteries. Something seemed different about them. "All we can do is wait for any Loyalist or Hylian forces to arrive and reinforce or relieve us. It's just a matter of them getting here before Vael's done having fun with his plaything." Gavelston continued staring at the batteries, really bothered by them. Something was _definitely_ different about them, and it was something so obvious he just couldn't figure it out.

"You seem to know a lot about the 'good' general," Rhodus commented.

"I studied his tactics and ways for a report in officer's academy. He was only a colonel back then, but even so, he was as brutal as he ever was. I still have yet to figure out how he kept his position in the army." Gavelston explained, still trying to figure out the conundrum of the batteries.

"Wealth and 'contributions' could explain it," Rhodus offered before a moment of tense quiet enveloped them. Finally, Gavelston broke it.

"Do you notice anything different about those cannons?"

"They moved them closer last night," Rhodus simply replied, and the look that came over Gavelston's face was one a man wore when saying "How could I have _missed_ that?!"

"They moved them all closer," Link's voice spoke, alerting the colonel to his presence behind him. "Every battery's been moved up while we slept. If they fire again, they'll probably land more shots and do more damage."

"Oh, they'll fire again," Gavelston confirmed. "If you'll excuse me, I have some dispatches to write." With that the colonel turned and walked down the nearby staircase and headed for his quarters.

"What dispatches does he mean?" Link asked as he came to a spot next to Rhodus and squatted on his haunches, bringing his chest to equal level with the captain's head.

"Probably to inform his king and our crown princess of our current situation," Rhodus explained. "I must say, Link, when I set out for here, I didn't think we'd be so surrounded so soon."

"Do you think Vael knew we were coming?"

"Maybe. Maybe he was already on his way here anyways, and fate decided to play a cruel prank on us."

"How long do you think until Princess Zelda can amass the army to march and relieve us?"

"…Awhile," Rhodus answered after a grim silence. "Probably too long."

* * *

After the repair crew had returned to the relative safety of the fort's interior, Gavelston had emerged from his quarters carrying a regal looking eagle, two letters tied to its legs. With a flick of his arm, the eagle took to the sky and began soaring through the air towards the direction of what Link assumed to be the Calatian capital. Once it was out of sight, the colonel joined the other five members of the war council in the courtyard before the barracks.

"Well, now that that's done, we need to discuss a plan," he said. "The enemy's main objective will no doubt be to get over the walls and past our defenses. Considering the number disadvantage, we have to prepare for the scenario that they succeed."

"A point of last stand before full retreat to the Keep?" Rusl asked.

"Yes," Gavelston confirmed. "I only see one real choice: the barracks. It has two floors, a lot of room to house any remaining warriors, and the medical supplies are upstairs. The doors can be barred shut, they're heavy and can stand against even battering rams. We hold position there as long as we can before we're forced to retreat to the Keep."

"What's stoppin' 'em from surroundin' the barracks and cuttin' off the Keep?" Bargus asked, his arms crossed and his brows furrowed in thought.

"We could designate men to form a line before the Keep and hold off the enemy," Rusl offered. "I admit it seems suicidal, for the designated warriors, anyways, but if we used our absolute best, it could be done."

"He's right," Link said. "They won't have any shelter or a chance at resting like the men in the barracks, but someone's going to have to keep a fallback path open."

"Alright then, who'll be in this little group?" Rhodus asked.

"I will," Link immediately said. "I don't like to brag, but I believe you'd all agree that I have the best chance of lasting anyways."

"Indeed," Bargus said, a grin now plastered under his beard. "An' if you'll be there, than so too shall I. Your blade an' mah axe will sing in battle t'gether!"

"The rest should be volunteers, I think," Rusl offered. "We should only force men into this most dangerous of tasks should there be a lack of those willing."

"If we 'ad warriors of my 'ome, we'd 'ave no such shortages," Bargus grinned glumly, obviously wishing for a quantity of such warriors.

"We'll get those volunteers later," Gavelston said. "Another thing we need to discuss is logistics. We have enough food and supplies to last almost a month, but our medicines are starting to run low. We used a good amount of them when we were first stationed here, there was a rather bad bug amongst the men. Captain Rhodus, did your men happen to bring any healing potions?"

"Yes sir," Rhodus answered. "Highest quality Red Potions available. I'll have some men get them up to the sick room."

"I have some things to add to that," Link interjected. "I have some Red Potions of my own, but I also have something else. Honestly though, you might not believe it." He then turned and walked off, disappearing into the barracks. Moments later, he reemerged holding a glass bottle. When he rejoined the little group, the others were varying degrees of shocked when they saw a glowing ball of purple light floating around on wings contained within.

"A…a fairy?" Bargus asked, his disbelief teetering on incomprehension.

"Yes, a fairy," Link confirmed, holding the bottle up in the light of the sun. "Able to heal any wound and leave no scars. They can even bring a man from death, assuming he'd died recently enough."

"I always thought they were only stories…" Turo spoke up, gawking like a child. "Where did you come across it?"

"They're rare," Link admitted. "But easy to find if one knows where to look."

"Alright then," Gavelston spoke. "Those shall be added as well. I don't know how long the new total of medicines can hold us out, but I hope it's enough. With settled, for now at least, I say we get back to the walls. We need to start getting those volunteers."

So they set about and gathered their volunteers, five from Hyrule and five from Calatia. Link and Bargus would make the total 12 should the enemy breach the wall perimeter, something every man in the fort planned to prevent. Again, lunch was eaten at the walls, this time simple broth made of potatoes and a small amount of meat. It was rather tasteless, but it filled their stomachs and appetites. But once again, the garrison could only sit and wait, watching the enemy in the quiet of Liberty Rock.

* * *

_The rest of the day was spent at the walls. We waited and waited, and again the attack never came. The Rebels stayed behind their cannons out of the range of our bows, and while we could have reached them with our cannons, we only had five. We would've been fighting an incoming wave of the ocean with our hands. So we waited. The remainder of the day dragged on, almost nothing interesting happening. The only thing of note was that Bargus and Link started meeting with their instruments and teaching each other songs, or playing together to lighten the men's spirits. This would be a constant occurrence for the next several days, one which made being hemmed up more tolerable. Finally, the sun started to lower on our second day of besiegement. In the distance, we could hear drums, then horns, then silence. Finally, thundering cannons, and another seemingly endless night._


	6. Small Victories

**Author's Note: I'm typing this only hours after posting chapter 5 with no beta reader. I was gonna wait a bit, but I feel too restless. A fire has been lit! Since it's so soon, instead of thanking new reviewers (since I don't have any), I'll take this moment to suggest some really good fanfictions.**

_**Insomnia**_** (In progress, tikitikirevenge) – A **_**Majora's Mask**_** novelization that does what no other fanfiction I've seen does: it gets the mechanics of time travel right. Meaning there's actually multiple Links running around Termina at once, each more sleep deprived than the last and more confused than the next, affecting each other's "cycle". Also, as a TV Tropes reviewer said, "they should have hired this guy to do the game's script" (in reference to Tatl's dialogue).**

_**Free as the Wind **_**(In progress, Trickster's Imagination) – A Link meets Link (meets Link) kind of fanfiction, which I normally can't stand. The fact alone I love it so much stands to prove how good it is. Each Link has a completely unique persona, each with their own flaws that make them memorable. I can't do those descriptions justice, so just check it out.**

_**Wolfhide**_** (Complete, Lady Shadowcat) – This is probably one of, if not my absolute, favorite Zelda fics. Rusl has a father/son moment with Colin when they skin a wolf Rusl has recently killed just outside Ordon Village, until they make a horrible discovery. It's rather old, but if anything it'll introduce you to Shadowcat's work, which is great because he/she's my favorite Zelda writer, one of the best I've ever seen, and all of his/her stuff is great, especially **_**The Great Desert**_**, which is simply the most original "original Zelda adventure" fic I've ever seen.**

**With that, I'm off to the races. **

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1 for disclaimer.

* * *

_Our third day in the walls of Liberty Rock had absolutely nothing of interest to recount. When the sun rose, we were tired, haggard, and ill rested, and again the enemy had moved their batteries forward. Again, we had to repair damages to the North Wall, though I wasn't chosen for that duty. I simply remained at the Low Wall all day, watching the enemy, and listening to music from another part of the fort as Link and Bargus continued their "lessons". At sunset, the enemy's band again played that horrid tune, and again the cannons blasted us all night. The routine seemed to start repeating on the morning of day four. But something happened that day that didn't happen previously, something that made all our spirits low and grim._

_The enemy received reinforcements._

* * *

Link nodded his thanks to the soldier who handed him his lunch. This one man had seemed to take it upon himself to feed the garrison at lunch time every day, and Link admired his devotion. The food itself was rather lacking, nothing more than cheese and bread today, but it didn't matter to any of the men. The thought that someone cared enough to try more than made up for it. The soldier had moved on further down the East Wall by the time Link started into his sandwich, Bargus having finished his in seemingly two bites.

"That's good Northern cheese," Bargus explained after a belch as he readjusted his bagpipes in preparation of resuming playing.

"Not as good as the goat cheese we'd make back in Ordon," Link replied after swallowing a bite of his sandwich. "There was never enough to last more than a few minutes' worth of sales when we went to Castle Town. We'd load two wagons with it and it'd be gone before we'd even considered eating our own lunches."

"I'll 'ave to try this for mahself when I visit 'yrule," Bargus replied. He readied the mouthpiece of his bagpipes to begin playing when the distant sounds of trumpets halted him. The two heroes looked to the west for a moment before they set their instruments (and Link's sandwich) aside and grabbed their ranged weapons. Within minutes, the war council had once again formed at the main battery, Colonel Gavelston watching the distant enemy headquarters with his telescope. There was vast movement as columns of troops joined the ranks that already surrounded the fort.

"Just as I expected," Gavelston signed in resignation, a man who'd made a dark prediction come true. "More rebels come to boost Vael's numbers."

"As if he needed them…" Captain Rhodus grumbled.

"He really intends to crush and destroy us completely, doesn't he." Rusl stated more than asked.

"You were expecting otherwise?" Gavleston inquired as he folded his telescope. He didn't notice Bargus turn and walk down the ramp towards the courtyard, a surprising fact given his immense girth. In fact, only Link noticed, and he simply watched curiously as the giant made his way toward the East Wall where they'd been minutes earlier. "When Vael wants to make an example, he bears no expense, even if it means more lives lost."

"Those dispatches you sent," Rhodus spoke up. "When should we expect replies?"

"Tomorrow, the next day at the latest. Gaoth's a loyal bird, and an excellent messenger."

A silence enveloped the warriors as they simply watched the distant proceedings, none thinking of anything to say. Then, Bargus returned and walked past them towards the center of the West Wall, grabbing the attention of any soldier who could see him. He had his bagpipes, which only garnered more attention. Once he reached the center of the wall, he put the mouthpiece to his lips and began blowing. Soon notes began playing. Like the Casandea, it was boastful tune of victory, but Link and most of the other garrison members found they liked it more than that dreadful cue for barrage.

"What's he playing?" Link asked over his shoulder, his eyes focused on Bargus, who stood proud at the wall.

"It's a traditional Burok melody about the resilience of their people," Turo answered. "It's essential meaning is that they are a rock which can never be broken, and anyone who tries is a fool wasting their time."

"I suppose we're all honorary residents of the province," Rusl smiled. Bargus simply stood and continued playing, his notes giving the men about him courage and a feeling of strength they desperately needed. He was just about to reach a crescendo when the rebel cannons opened fire. Much like the nighttime barrages, every artillery piece simply started blasting, sending balls flying over and into the walls. The council scattered, much as it did that first night, and once again the garrison took its positions atop the walls, taking cover behind the parapets as they awaited a charge that never came. As a matter of fact, the situation was almost identical to the nighttime barrages, save that it was broad daylight. After an hour or so, the cannons stopped firing, but the garrison remained in cover. When it was clear the barrage was truly over and simply not lulled, they slowly stood. Captain Rhodus glanced over the distant enemy encampment in the west and said aloud, to no one in particular,

"I don't suppose we'll be doing that again,"

* * *

The sun was down, the night young as the garrison ate its dinner, each member remaining at their position atop the walls, especially given the day's events. The torches and campfire were flickering, illuminating the interior of the stone structure, making the shadows dance among the walls. Few of the soldiers talked, and those who did used hushed whispers, as if speaking too loud would incur the wrath of the army surrounding them. The loudest sound in the fort was the soft tune of a violin as Link played a quiet and peaceful song. He was sitting in what had become his spot, his back against the arrow crate near the campfire set up just behind the Low Wall. Across the fire sat Rusl, his legs crossed, his soup bowl in his hands.

"That sounds familiar," he commented as Link worked the bow and strings.

"It's the tune Illia's charm plays when you blow in it, the one that calls Epona," Link replied. "Though…there's more to it."

"How do you mean?" Rusl inquired after swallowing a mouthful of stew. Link, at first, only continued playing as he thought of his response.

"When I travel Hyrule Field at night," Link began, almost uncertainly. "The wind always seems to blow during certain hours, as if on a schedule of sorts. It seems…different from the usual wind, though. One night, I listened to it, really _listened_ to it, and I swear by the Goddesses I could hear a melody in it. I recognized part of it as the tune from Illia's charm, but the rest I'd never heard before. I thought I was imagining it, but I listened again for the next several nights, and I swear again that that music was there. One night I just picked up my violin and played what I'd heard. Something about it puts me at ease, and Epona seems to especially like it. It sounds crazy, to me, but it's the truth so far as I can tell."

"I don't think it's so crazy," Rusl assured his friend sincerely. "Given everything you've been through, I'm surprised you do." Link smiled at this before playing the final notes of the song. He put the instrument down and stared off in the distance, his mind lost in deep thought. His attention, and that of every other person in the fort, was suddenly grabbed by the distant sound of snare drums.

"By the Divine Three I despise that tune," Rusl grumbled for the first, but certainly not the last, time. Link remained silent as he packed his violin and bow back into the bag in which he carried them. He then grabbed his archery bow and cradled it against his chest in the crook of one arm as he always did at night. He had just curled his blanket about him with his free arm when the trumpets joined the percussion.

"One of them's off-key," Link commented. Rusl didn't acknowledge, but even he heard it was true. He simply sighed, laid down, and covered himself in his blanket as the last notes of the tune faded.

Then there was quiet.

Then there was fire.

* * *

In the mid morning sun, Liberty Rock's garrison remained watchful and waiting at the walls. Few moved about the fort, and those that did always returned to their post before long. Link had every intention of avoiding his corner of the fort for awhile, however. He felt penned in, the claustrophobic feeling of the fort worse than Ordon Village. The only thing he felt which could help was moving as much as he could, keeping his legs going. And so, since sunrise, he'd been on a sort of constant patrol, starting at the Low Wall and going entirely around the fort's perimeter, a constant clockwise rotation. He would stop and chat with soldiers, try to keep their morale as high as it could be in this miserable situation, then move on when his restlessness got the better of him. He was just starting another of the rounds when he found Colonel Gavelston at the main battery in the fort's southwest corner.

"What do you see?" he asked the officer, who was observing the enemy's headquarters through his telescope.

"It seems Vael's become displeased with one of his followers," Gavelston replied, his eye still glued to the scope. "They're preparing a public execution."

"Of one of their own?" Link puzzled aloud. "For what?"

"I'm not sure," Gavelston replied, still gazing at the proceedings. "I can see the 'guilty' though. He's nothing more than a trumpeter."

"How can you tell?"

"He's wearing the uniform of a company musician, and there's a damaged trumpet at his feet," Turo answered for his superior. "It's a symbolic gesture to damage a musician's instrument before expelling him. It's a brand of sorts to remind him he's unworthy of playing it. The fact that he's being expelled by execution, well…" he trailed off, having no need to elaborate on who made that decision. Link could only stare in the distance as the previous night's music played through his mind, that one off-key horn being the loudest instrument of them all.

"Such wasteful bloodshed," Gavelston sighed as he collapsed his telescope, then turned and walked past Link and down the ramp, Turo loyally following. Link could only stand and stare in the distance, a feeling of numbness in his gut.

* * *

As Gavelston expected, his eagle Gaoth returned, admittedly late, but better than never. The colonel was in his office reading the replies to his dispatches when he heard a knock at his door.

"Enter," he called, expecting Turo. When it opened, he saw Link instead.

"May I have a minute of your time Colonel?" the hero asked as he entered and closed the door, his bow stashed in the space between his back and shield.

"I don't plan on going anywhere," Gavelston replied with a grim smirk as he indicated an open seat. Link politely shook his head and instead stood by a window, gazing outside at the clear sky. If the garrison had anything to be thankful for, it hadn't rained in the five days they'd been besieged. For a moment, Link said nothing, but Gavelston got the feeling he was simply attempting to articulate what he wished to discuss, so he gave him his time.

"One of the worst fates an adventurer or soldier can have, I think," Link finally started. "Is to die away from home, and for his loved ones to never know where, how, or why. To leave them behind with no comfort, nothing to hold onto and remember them by, nothing recent at least."

"I don't disagree," Gavelston said solemnly. In fact, once he reflected on it, Gavelston agreed wholeheartedly. The hero had articulated a deep fear every warrior has, but are courageous enough to risk for the safety of those loved ones and others. In fact, what he had said was very wise, and with a mental jerk Gavelston remembered that the hero was still a young man, only recently of marrying age. For Link to be so young and to be so wise, he had to have experienced things which made him grow and mature in ways few people could withstand.

"We're supposed to hold these walls until help arrives," Link continued after further thinking on how he should say what he wanted to. "But honestly, that army outside could attack and kill us all any day now, and these men know it. I believe, sir, that these men have the right to say good-bye to their loved ones, to give them words of comfort should they be needed."

Gavelston reflected on this and slowly nodded.

"They do, Master Link," he said quietly. "Indeed they do. But I don't see a way to do it. A mounted messenger would have to be very lucky to find a way through the enemy's perimeter, and even if he did, we only have 203 men to fight here, and we need every last one of them. Even one man gone would be too much."

"I understand," Link said before turning to the colonel. "But I disagree. Believe me or not, I have a way to get those letters out and keep all of our warriors here to fight. All you need to do is get them to write their letters. I'll get them out."

When Gavelston saw the look on Link's face, he found that he couldn't not believe him.

* * *

"Letters," Gavelston said, his gaze scanning the garrison gathered before him. Only enough soldiers remained on the walls to maintain a visible presence in the setting sunlight while the rest were formed in a large group before the standing colonel. "Letters to your family. Your friends. Your wives, your children, your lovers, the people who matter the most to you. Tell them what you want them to know above all else. Give them encouragement, memories, love, whatever you can put into words on that piece of paper. Write your letters and pack them into a single envelope, one for each of you. Then, we'll send them out, get them to who're they're intended for. There is still hope. I have promises from both the king of Calatia and the crown princess of Hyrule that their armies are, at this moment, mustering to our aid. But a wise man once told me to always hope for the Goddesses' blessing, and prepare to have their ire. And so I ask you to prepare. Have your letters written within an hour. We'll collect them here, and the rest will be in the hands of fate."

With that, the colonel turned and began walking towards his quarters. The garrison members looked among themselves for a moment, then returned to their posts where they began writing what could possibly be their goodbyes.

At the appointed time, Gavelston and Link stood in the center of the courtyard as soldiers came by one at a time, each handing an envelope to Turo, who would then place it in a saddlebag.

"That's it sir," he said to the colonel after adding another one. The moon was just barely in the sky at this point "203 envelopes, each signed by an individual garrison member." Link nodded and took the saddlebag, closing and securing it before pulling another envelope from his belt. This one was marked with the emblem of the Hylian Royal Family, and he placed it in a pocket in the front of the bag. That pocket was used to carry documents of the utmost importance. After ensuring the bag was closed tightly, Link carried it into the stable. Soldiers watching this then suddenly began whispering nervously amongst themselves.

"You don't…you don't think he's leaving, do you?"

"He wouldn't leave us, he's the Hero of Twilight!"

"What'll we do without him? Vael will crush us!"

The whispers silenced when Link emerged, leading Epona by the reigns towards the gate. Every soldier felt their stomach vanish in fear as they realized the hero was in fact leaving them alone at the mercy of the tyrant. They couldn't even bring themselves to be angry they were so shocked. Link stopped a few meters shy of the gate and turned, whispering to Epona as he stroked her head comfortingly. In the distance, snare drums started to play. Link then walked around to Epona's side…and gave a hard slap to her flank. The horse reared, then bolted towards the Low Wall. Link calmly followed her path at a walk as she ran. To the amazement of the garrison, save Rusl, the horse gave a mighty leap and soared over the parapets of the Low Wall, and disappeared into the night beyond the fort's walls. Archers on the South Wall and at the Low Wall watched in amazement as the horse landed on her feet and continued running into the basin in the cover of night. Link reached the Low Wall and joined those watching his horse as she made her way through a gap between battalions, unseen in the night. For a moment, the archers saw the enemy begin spreading, having heard the horse and went to look for it. But she made it through without being caught, and disappeared into the Kasuto Pass just as the trumpets joined that cursed melody.

"That's a mighty fine horse, Master Hero," one of the Hylian archers near Link said.

"The best in all of Hyrule," Link replied, a smile of pride on his face. The music eventually died down, and the garrison took cover for their fifth night of bombardment, but even as the cannons roared, they smiled, knowing their messages would be heard.

* * *

**Author's Note: The thing about Link's "wind music" is a reference to another fanfic I read. Based on reviews for it, if one plays TP and actually listens to the wind in Hyrule Field at night, you can make out the Lon Lon Ranch theme from OoT, which we all know is the full version of Epona's Song with some country banjo music. **

**Well, that's three days gone in one chapter. I have the timeline mapped in my head, but only certain days have major events happen, and honestly the third and forth days were supposed to be "boring days" where nothing happens. But I came up with the thing for day four and ran with it. Now that that's done, I ask, no, plead, no, **_**beg**_** you to please review. **


	7. Another Day in the Rock

**Author's Note: These chapters are comin' out like…well, you might not like the various analogies I was gonna choose from, so I'll just skip to the reviewer thanks. First up is kindigo, who posted my first new review in at least two months. I greatly appreciate it, and hope the story continues to please. Thanks also go to Trickster's Imagination, author of one of the fics I recommended last chapter, for postin' two consecutive new reviews. Again, I hope the story continues to please, and I can't wait for the next chapter of **_**Free as the Wind**_**. **

**If you'd like to see your name in a shoutout, Reader, be sure to review. Preferably a deep and constructive one, please?**

**Also, I wanna let something be known. Realistically, it'd take a helluva lot longer to get the letters distributed, their replies gathered, and then sent back to the fort than four days, but for the sake of the story, we'll say it doesn't.**

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1 for disclaimer.

* * *

Two days after Epona had set about her task to get the word of the garrison out, Link found himself once again restlessly patrolling the fort in a vain attempt to fight the feeling of a caged animal. The comparison made Link remember the time he'd had the actual feeling, and wasn't surprised to find it wasn't all that different. He just had a bit more legroom to stretch.

It was around noon of that day, the garrison's seventh in besiegement that archers at the twenty pounder's battery suddenly stood alertly. One turned to the courtyard and let loose a holler for all to hear:

"_Here they come!! Enemy advance to the southwest!!"_

The reaction was immediate. Men sprang to their positions, save for groups of archers on the West Wall Captain Rhodus was directing to the south end. Link was running toward that corner when he saw Rusl shouting orders to the archers at the Low Wall to hold it in case of an enemy advance on it before he turned and ran for the battery himself. By the time the two Ordonians had reached the battery with their bows ready, there was a good sized group of archers and crossbowmen gathered there, including Colonel Gavelston, Bargus, and Captain Rhodus.

"Keep those shields ready!" Gavelston reminded his men as they sat shields on the ground by their feet leaning against the parapets. He was adjusting one of his twin crossbows in his shoulder to better aim it, the other in the loyal hands of Turo. Every archer and crossbowman had their weapons ready and aimed at the infantry unit that had just halted mere feet out of bow range. Link noticed something about it immediately.

"Why's he sending such a small force to try and take the fort? We're under-strength, but even so…" he asked Gavelston beside him, his aiming eyes never leaving the infantry unit. It occurred to him some of these men would be the first living, breathing, thinking people with feelings, emotions, motives, and families he would kill.

"He's not trying to take the fort," Gavelston replied simply, his one open eye also locked on the red armored rebel force that threatened to march any second now. "He's testing our strength, seeing how much of a fight we can put up. Your horse must have given him concern for a call to reinforcements."

For a moment, the rebel unit simply stood there, its spears standing in their hands with the ends of the shafts planted on the ground, and their shields gripped firmly before them. Then, the shields came together and formed a wall as the infantry crouched behind it, forming a single moving blockade. The phalanx started marching forward, its advance slow when compared to a full march, but the advance was clear and blatant. Behind them, Link could see others walking behind in the cover the phalanx provided, possibly even more infantry or even archers of their own.

"Fire! Fire at will!!" Gavelston ordered before loosing a crossbow bolt at an arc that gave it extra distance as it soared through the air and bounced harmlessly off the advancing shield wall. Before it struck, the other archers also fired, meaning that lone bolt had a hail of bolts and arrows following behind. Most also bounced off harmlessly, but others pierced small gaps in the wall made by the corners of the shields, and men fell to the ground in pain or death. Gavelston had handed the empty crossbow to Turo immediately after firing, and had fired his second shot while most of the other archers were still loading their second, save a handful like Link and a cavalryman or two who had extensive skill at speedloading a bow. While not necessarily the fastest in Calatia, Turo was indeed very fast at loading the crossbows, and so Gavelston was firing bolts as fast as these speedloaders. As the phalanx approached, more men were falling dead. Then, through the hole or two the garrison had made in the defenses, they saw the enemy's archers themselves aiming upwards with their own longbows.

"_Shields!!"_ Gavelston ordered. Almost every archer, save Bargus and one or two others too busy aiming to bother or were just feeling lucky enough to risk it, lowered their bows and raised their shields, dropping to one knee to make themselves a smaller target to hit, and a smaller package to protect. Seconds later, arrows landed and deflected off the angled shields, landing at the feet of the defending archers as they stood and resumed firing their own bows and crossbows, aiming mainly for the enemy archers now that the enemy's phalanx was shrinking as its members formed closer together to attempt and close gaps left by the dead or wounded. The garrison's arrows found their marks as enemy bowmen dropped to the ground, an arrow or two protruding from a weak point in their armor such as a joint.

"Ready the cannon!" Gavelston ordered the crew who was already loading a ball into the powder-packed artillery piece. "Aim for the phalanx!" he added before another rain of enemy arrows began landing. Most hadn't raised their shields, and one paid the price as an arrow slammed into his collarbone through the open neck area of his chest armor. As nearby soldiers picked him up and began carrying him to the barracks, the cannon crew took aim and lit the fuse. A furious explosion rocked the foundation of the West Wall as the twenty pound cannonball was fired through the air before it directly hit the wall of shields The resulting explosion was chaotic, and made even more so by the screams of the men it shattered, their armor clattering like thunder as they were thrown into the air and brought crashing to the ground. The exposed enemy archers suddenly found themselves victim to more hails of arrows as they fell one after the other. A bugle sounded, and the surviving soldiers turned and ran a full scale retreat. The archers on the walls of Liberty Rock let out a victorious cheer as the noticeably-shrunken unit slunk off like a dog with its tail between its legs. Link was smiling, but not quite cheering. Turning to Gavelston, he saw the colonel wasn't even doing that much.

"Why so glum, Colonel?" Bargus asked, catching sight of Gavelston's grim expression. "We've just achieved a vict'ry over the ''igh and mighty' General Vael!"

"A morale victory, maybe," Gavelston said, his gaze scanning the ocean of red armor on the horizon, only slight gaps between formations visible. "But all we've done today is clip the toe nail of a giant. And in the process, we even lost a man for it."

"Not quite," Link said before heading to the barracks.

* * *

_I'd watched from the Low Wall as the enemy below did nothing, but the other archers there and I mostly spent our time watching the archers on the main battery as they fought with the advancing enemy. I didn't see the force, and my fearful imagination pictured a large force of conquest. I later learned it was little more than a skirmish unit. I did, however, clearly see a group of men carried a wounded archer into the barracks, an arrow shaft growing from the neck area of his arms, blood dropping onto the sand in a trail of brown dots. A shot from the twenty pound cannon shook the fort's foundations and did extreme damage, from what I could hear and have been told, Within minutes, our archers were cheering in victory, then I saw Link jogging toward the barracks, following the trail of blood in the sand. Remembering it, I wonder if he'd even noticed it. _

_As he jogged over, he suddenly detoured to the Low Wall and grabbed his pack. He then stood, looked at the ten of us there, and pointed at me._

"_What's your name?" he asked. I answered, and he gestured me to follow him. "Come on, I might need some help."I obeyed and followed the hero inside the barracks, then up the stairs into the sick bay, where already the wounded man was screaming in pain, a scream which easily drowned out the cries of the two men attempting to hold him still and simultaneously treat him. When we entered, they looked relieved at the prospect of reinforcements. Link approached and saw that they hadn't even been able to remove the arrow. Link set his bag on a table beside the "patient's" bed and shuffled through it, pulling out two bottles. One unmistakably contained red potion, the other held, of all things, a fairy! He then instructed me to fetch some rags, which I did while he instructed the other two on how to hold the man down. The "patient" continued to moan pathetically throughout this, his pain overbearing. I returned with the rags, and Link had me simply hold them ready to give to him when he demanded them. He then used one hand to hold the man's torso down and used the other to yank the arrow out. There was a sick squelching sound as the tip broke flesh and muscle, which only made the man scream louder. Link demanded and received a rag which he held to the wound to soak in the spurts of blood before he inspected it. He cursed and then grabbed the bottle with the fairy, leaving bloody streaks on the otherwise perfect glass. He pulled the cork and held the mouth of the bottle near the man's neck, and the fairy went to the wound like a moth to the flame. It glowed, flew around making strange sparkling noises, then shrank and vanished, just like in the stories. I distinctly remember that, how wondrous and new it was to me and the two men holding the wounded one down…but how absolutely mundane it appeared to be to Link._

_The man had stopped screaming. For a moment he was still, breathing but otherwise unmoving. A man so shocked he couldn't move. When he finally did stir, he sat up and felt the wound, where no evidence remained save for the blood that became smeared on his hand. He smiled a blessed man's smile and thanked Link with every fiber of his being, declaring his everlasting debt to "the great hero". I know for a fact I saw that fairy heal that man, a man who is dead now and whose name I never knew, but what I couldn't, and still can't, distinguish from reality and imagination was the look on Link's face when the man called him "the great hero". He seemed almost…distressed._

_********************  
_

The bombardment of the seventh night was right on schedule, though by now the garrison had become somewhat accustomed to it, enough to catch a minute or two's worth of sleep anyways. The eighth day mostly proved to be just as monotonous and mundane as the previous, nothing more than sitting and waiting. It amazed several of the defenders how absolutely boring it was to be surrounded by thousands of warriors intending to kill them all. But there were some distractions to be had, mainly small card games and Link's violin. The latter was involved in two incidents during the siege, one the only important event of that eighth day, which would remain in the minds of every other defender in the Rock until the day they died, a day which wasn't too far off for most of them.

Link stood at the top of the ramp to the twnety pounder battery, his violin's music echoing off the walls and entertaining the garrison as they continued to sit in the sun and wait. That's all they had been doing since the day Vael showed up, sitting and waiting. Link and Bargus had started taking shifts of music playing in an attempt to alleviate as much of the boredom as they could. Hopefully the garrison would be able to pay more attention with some of the apathy gone. They didn't know if their idea was working, but one thing was obvious: the garrison liked the violin much more than the bagpipes. In response, Link had taken to playing more often than Bargus, and after some trial and error had found that the top of the ramp on which he now stood provided the best acoustics for the garrison to hear the strings. In fact, they were so focused on listening to the violin strings that no one even heard the twang of a bowstring.

Link had simply been playing his fiddle when he suddenly jerked forward, as if struck in the back. In fact, this was exactly what happened. His violin fell to the ground, and then the hero himself fell to the ground and began tumbling down the ramp like a rock down a mountainside. Those who saw it gave a gasp of shock, and some of horror. Link finally came to a stop facedown at the foot of the ramp, an arrow shaft sticking out of the back of his right shoulder, the green fabric of the tunic surrounding it now dark red. Rusl stepped off the Low Wall and took a couple steps forward, his eyes locked on the man who he'd once raised as a son. Like everyone else, he was so stunned, so baffled by the idea of the great hero who'd saved a whole nation alone could be slain by something so simple as an arrow, he just couldn't move. Then, Link twitched, and raised his head before reaching behind him. He grimaced as he wrenched the arrow out and held it before him, his face plastered with the look one would see on the victim of a practical joke: _You've got to be _kidding _me._

Then, he simply fell onto his face again and was still. Rusl bolted and started running to his friend as others seemed to come out of their petrified states like ReDeads walking out of a thick fog. Before he was even halfway there though, another sight made everyone freeze once again: a fairy floated out of a pouch on Link's belt, and then fluttered about lazily. Then, it started zipping about his body as if it had a mission before it shrank in size and simply vanished. Everything was still for a moment, then Link twitched again. The hero rolled over onto his back, lay there for a moment as if catching his breath, then sat up into a sitting position. He seemed to stretch, twisting his torso and popping his back. Then he stood and made his way up the ramp again, ignoring the faces that gawked at a man who should be dead. At the top, he bent over and picked up his violin and bow, inspecting the former for any damages, then smiled in relief when he didn't even see a scratch. Putting it to his shoulder, he played a few notes and frowned before tweaking some of the tuning pegs. Playing some more, he smiled with satisfaction once it was in tune, then approached the parapets. He saw no archers in bow range, the one who'd shot him had probably high-tailed it back out of range before a retaliation could be made. Link put the violin to his shoulder and began playing again, this time to the rebels outside of the fort, the notes echoing off the plains and armor. Rusl was the first to recognize the tune, and the first to start singing.

"Come boys and girls and gather 'round and listen to this tale! The kinda tale that's best told over golden foaming ale! This story has a lesson that you never will forget! No ya can't keep a wanderin' man down!" he sang with a large grin on his face, his voice echoing off the walls which penned him in. The Calatians in the fort listened in confusion, none of them knowing the song, but every other Hylian suddenly joined in.

"_Oh eye-dee-die-dee, yo-dee-die-dee, eye-dee-die-dee, yo! Oh eye-dee-die-dee, yo-dee-die-dee, eye-dee-die-dee, yo!" _

"_There was a man, both brave and wise, a master with the sword! He kept the peace and stopped the beasts for only room and board! He never faced a challenge he could never overcome, no ya can't keep a wanderin' man down!"_

The voices resounded from the fort in a defiant chorus that everyone man in red armor heard. Some were baffled at their audacity. Some puzzled over how the one in green had survived what they clearly saw was a direct hit from an arrow. Most found themselves amazed by the resilience in these foreign warriors. One man only found contempt in the fact that they dared think themselves worthy of facing him in combat and not begging for mercy that they wouldn't have received anyways. They weren't even worthy of breathing his country's air, yet here were these foreigners, who were desecrating that very air with their boisterous voices, their misguided confidence, and their horribly mistaken belief of hope.

"_No ya can't keep a wanderin' man down!"_

_********************  
_

The ninth day's afternoon breeze made Link's hat flutter somewhat as he stood on one of the North Wall batteries, his gaze focused on the enemy's own batteries in the distance. Like every morning, they were closer, but never within bowshot. If Link had to guess, they'd only move up once more, maybe twice, then stop to maintain their safe distance.

"You do know they're back in now, right?" Gavelston asked conversationally as he came to a stop beside Link, referring to the soldiers who'd gone out to repair the damages to the North Wall from the previous night's bombardment. Honestly, Link was still amazed it hadn't collapsed.

"Yes," Link answered, his eyes never leaving the enemy. "It just doesn't feel right…something's gonna happen today. Something big."

"Hero's intuition?"

"You could say that," Link replied. And he was right.

It wasn't even an hour later when calls of alarm began rising from the Low and South Walls. Link, who had been taking another walk in circles around the fort, rushed down the courtyard in front of the barracks, then leapt onto the Low Wall beside Rusl and the archer who'd helped him with the wounded man. In the distance, they could see the enemy formations stirring, as men began mounting on horses. They were all in a hurry, and it was obvious something was going on. That something was a lone, riderless horse that was rounding the southern edge of the basin, preparing to run straight for the fort's main gate. Captain Rhodus had just reached the Low Wall in time to see rebel soldiers begin firing arrows at the horse.

Link didn't even wait before vaulting over the edge f the Low Wall, almost losing his footing on the steep slope and the loose sand of the basin. He made his way to the even ground that lead out from the South Wall's main gate as quickly and carefully as he could while Rhodus began crying for cavalrymen to mount up. The fort was in a ruckus. When he reached that level ground, Link bolted at a full sprint toward Epona, who was doing the same toward him. Link wanted to draw his bow and fire on the men trying to kill his horse, his lifelong friend, but he'd only be wasting arrows. They were out of bowshot, but thankfully Epona would be out of theirs as well soon. Link had just reached the part of the ground that started to slope downhill and form the side of the basin when riders of the Hylian 1st King's Royal Cavalry rode past him, their bows and swords drawn and ready to meet the rebel cavalry that was now chasing Epona uphill towards the gate. The King's Cavalrymen made an opening that Epona ran through and continued towards her master, who hadn't slowed down a bit. Just as the two cavalry forces met in a cacophony of battle cries, bowshots, and sword strikes, Link altered his course to the side slightly, reached his hand out, and grabbed Epona's saddle as she sped past like the wind. His jump took care of the rest, and the warriors on the walls of Liberty Rock watched in awe as Link was now riding Epona toward the fort, mounting her without her even stopping, or even slowing down. Behind the South Wall, loyalists pulled the main gate open, expecting Link to ride in. Instead, he veered to his left, passing by the South Wall, tossing a large saddlebag up as he did. Bargus was there to catch it as the Hylian hero turned and began riding towards the small skirmish between the opposing cavalry forces. The Hylain riders was holding their own very well, they even appeared to have the upper hand. A reinforcing wave of rebel cavalry charged with the intent to change that, none of them noticing the green clad man riding towards them.

Those who watched from the walls couldn't believe what they saw next. It seemed that Link…threw a tornado at the charging enemy. This tornado snatched up several riders and horses and threw them every which way before returning to Link's hand and vanishing. Those caught in the gale and unharmed remounted their horses and joined the rest of the reinforcements in blind retreat. Finished with them, Link drew his sword and let out a battle cry of his own as he bulleted into the scuffle. With a strong swing, he took down an enemy rider, knocking him clean off his horse, which turned and attempted to leave the mess unfolding around it. Unfortunately, it ran into another of its fellow mounts, knocking down its rider. The man was trampled under the countless hooves, his screams barely audible over the sound of the fighting before they died with him. Link soon found himself by Captain Rhodus, the two of them moving their horses in a circle, striking at enemies with their blades like a slow moving Leever. The rebel cavalry began thinning as men turned and retreated, but a handful remained to fight. One took a swing at Link, only to see the man in green duck, rise, and thrust his own blade into his stomach. At the impact of the blade piercing his armor and flesh, he felt immense pain that seemed to freeze him. He finally managed to look down at the blade protruding into his sternum, then looked into the eyes of the man in green, the one who could seemingly survive an arrow, who rode a horse that seemed to be more in the eyes of his fellow soldiers who really _knew_ horses. He did not see victory or bloodlust. He did not see anger or fear. He saw something that looked almost like…horror? Shame? The rebel briefly had time to wonder what this man saw in his own eyes before he died.

Link withdrew his blade as easily as he could, a vain attempt to disturb the dead man as little as possible. Indeed, the body simply fell to the ground with a clatter of armor. Link looked down upon it…him. The first man, the first real person, Link had killed in such close and personal range…and had looked into his eyes while doing it. The hero had slain monsters of all kinds, creatures that could turn men to ashes, or even leave nothing remaining. He had stabbed and skewered Moblins, Lizalfos, Darknuts, and countless other monsters. But those creatures had been mindless beings, and those who weren't mindless had such little intellects that they might as well be. But this…this was a man. A real, thinking man, one who was equal with Link who, despite his reputation and accomplishments, in the end he was nothing more than a man like the one who lay dead before him. The one whose eyes Link could see even without closing his own. When he finally peeled those eyes away, he saw the battle over, and the Hylian cavalry cheering in victory before turning for its return to the fort.

"Well done, Master Link," Captain Rhodus said as he pulled his horse into conversation range with the hero. "I was a little worried when I saw those other horsemen approaching, but your timely intervention ensured we didn't lose a man. I must be honest, when I first met you I had a small doubt that you were who you claimed to be. But if you can command a tornado, you must indeed be the Chosen Hero." He rode off to follow his men before Link could reply. He shook his head, sheathed his sword, and followed.

* * *

In the courtyard of Liberty Rock, the garrison was gathered around the southwest corner, some standing on the walls and the twenty pounder battery, but most on the ground around the ramp. Link, Rusl, and Bargus stood by the main gate away from the rest of the group. At the top of the ramp stood Colonel Gavelston, in his hand a letter marked with the Royal Seal of Hyrule. The saddlebag sat by his leg, filled with envelopes and letters.

"'To the garrison of Liberty Rock,'" Gavelston read from Zelda's letter, his voice proud and inspirational, a man rallying his troops. "'I have received your letters and wishes regarding their delivery to whom they're addressed, and it is with great joy I inform you that I have followed those wishes. I sent out my own personal couriers to deliver those messages, to those in Hyrule at least. The rest I had personally sent to the High Palace of Calatia, along with a letter of my own requesting the king to deliver the letters addressed to his citizens. Not long afterwards, replies to each and every letter were gathered, and I hope to see them in your hands as soon as possible. I know your situation is dire, I have been informed of it by the Hero of Twilight himself.'" The garrison cheered and applauded the hero at this, but Link only gave a small smile. _Aw shucks, it warn't_ _nutin' _as the country types were supposed to say, but someone particularly observant would see it was more than just that.

"'But I ask you, with all of my heart, to please hold on for just a while longer. At this moment my people are preparing to march to your aid and relieve you of your post, to allow you to return to your families. But I need more time, my people need more time, and though it might seem too monumental a task, I implore you to maintain your vigilance, to keep the enemy from my borders. I have faith in you all, and I know that trust will not be misplaced. Signed, Crown Princess Zelda of the Kingdom of Hyrule!'" Again there were cheers from the men who knew they were counted on and not forgotten.

"And now, for the letters," Gavelston continued after quieting them down. "We'll do this civilized, one at a time. When you hear your name called, you may approach, then step down to allow for the next. I would be honored to hand you these letters, but I feel I have not earned that honor." With this, he outstretched his arm toward the main gate.

"If anyone has earned that honor, it is Master Link," Again the cheering came, but this time Link's smile was more noticeable. Nodding his head in surrender, he walked through the crowd of soldiers that parted before him, reaching and climbing the ramp to Gavelston. The colonel gave him a nod and moved down the ramp, giving him the proverbial spotlight while he joined his men. By the time the cheering died down, Link had a handful of leeters and began calling the names on the front.

"Lobe,"

This first man came and took his letter, thanking the hero for what he'd done before rejoining the ranks of his comrades, already opening the envelope.

"Cauls,"

"Gwynne,"

"Corbic,"

_When each man came back with his envelope, filled with anywhere from one to five letters, there was always a smile on his face. I can't put how grateful for these letters we were into words, nor do I think can anyone else. He continued calling names and handing letters over, and each man had the same look of thankfulness and true happiness on his face like none I'd seen before. At one point, the hero didn't call a name. He simply looked at the envelope, smiled, and tucked it into his belt, no explanation given or needed before he returned to the other envelopes. When mine came, I did the same as the others: I walked up the ramp, took the envelope, and thanked him from the bottom of my heart before returning to the mass of armed men below. I remember reading the letter later on, it was from my father in Castle Town. He'd been living alone since the death of my mother, but he was a happy man who'd taken what life had thrown at him in stride, recovering from his grief and becoming a better man for it. It was he who'd suggested I try for the King's Royal Cavalry when I had finished my apprenticeship as a knight. I had written to him and told him of meeting the fabled hero, of the various men in the Rock. I remember that letter fondly, though I couldn't remember it word by word. I can't do it justice without copying it word for word, and while that letter is important to me, there are other things more important to this story which must be told._

* * *

**Author's Note: I think this chapter's taken a hit in quality, at least in comparison to others. That's just my opinion, which I don't "count" in comparison to yours. Now I'm off to work on the next chapter, which I actually believe will be one of the last handful. I believe the story will end somewhere around chapter 10, but that's just speculation. Don't forget to review, please?**


	8. Haze

**Holy crap my muse has abandoned me. I don't know if it's school, NJROTC, or my Halo clan, but for some reason I've had no drive to sit and write despite wanting to, and despite knowing exactly how the plot's gonna go. I feel pathetic.**

**EDIT: I don't even remember when I started this chapter, maybe March or April. It's now May 16, and a lot of crap has happened, including my liberation from public schooling and the death of my grandmother, one of the best people I've ever known. Oddly, after grieving, I've gotten this urge to start writing again. Maybe it's a coping mechanism or something. Anyways, this is long overdue, and I apologize for the long wait. That goes double for anyone waiting for an update on _No Good_, although I doubt there're many, if any at all. Check my profile for story plans.**

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1 for disclaimer.

* * *

_As defining a moment of my life those fourteen days were, there were moments and stretches of time that are entirely blank to me. I can't recall them no matter how hard I dig into my memory. The entire tenth day in those walls is like that. I can vaguely remember violin music, the sun, and wind. It wasn't until sundown that something memorable happened. There was that dreadful music from the Rebel encampment and the ensuing bombardment…but then it stopped. At first, several of us stayed where we were and just glanced about, almost unable to comprehend a quiet night so soon after that dreadful tune. But then many of us peered over the walls, suddenly afraid of a coming assault. Why else would they stop shooting, but to prevent friendly fire? For minutes we waited, and nothing came…and then the fire started again. And it would stop again. And start. All through the night it followed no pattern, and introduced us to a new feeling of being on edge, one which I hope I never have to feel again. Five nights is enough in my lifetime. Perhaps too much, honestly.

* * *

_

The day was like a haze. Link couldn't even remember why he was standing here at the twenty-pounder battery, staring at the enemy army in the distance, and their artillery that was always closer than the day before. He couldn't remember what he had been doing a few minutes earlier. He couldn't remember when he'd last eaten, though his stomach seemed appeased, so it couldn't have been too long ago. He couldn't even remember waking up. The days had started to blend together. He couldn't even remember how long it had been since they'd entered this wretched fort. There was one memory he could picture, though, if he dug hard enough: Ordon Village, the people dancing, the lights shimmering in the lake, and Hena's smile. Hena's beautiful smile.

"You haven't moved in two hours," Rusl said beside him, and though Link didn't jump or startle, he found himself alarmed that he couldn't remember when Rusl had joined him.

"How long have we been here?" Link asked, his gaze still focused outward. He only now found himself realizing it was almost sundown. That music would be playing any minute now…

"You've been standing here two hours," Rusl restated, himself becoming concerned. "I just walked up."

"No, I mean _here_. In this fort."

"Eleven days," Rusl said after some thought. "Today's the eleventh day we've been here."

"We could've been at home right now," Link observed, his hands clenching around his bow, which was set with one end on the ground before him. "We didn't need to be here. We could have stayed home, with our wives…our families."

"Do you honestly believe that?" Rusl asked, turning to his young friend, the man who was like a son to him. "That we don't need to be here?"

Link thought on his answer, and wasn't surprised at the answer he came to.

"No."

* * *

It was that night that Colonel Gavelston found Link and Rusl at their posts on the Low Wall, only rather than sitting on the ground behind it as they usually did, they were now on the wall itself, gazing at the sea of moving shadows and flickering lights in the distance that was the enemy and their torches.

"Anything?" Gavleston asked as he and Turo came to a stop beside the two Ordonians.

"I think I'm having delusions of hope," Rusl said, his eyes still glued to the distance.

"We saw a flicker, like a torch, somewhere behind the rebels," Link explained, his eyes likewise never leaving the distance.

"They have a lot of torches, how does that inspire hope?" Gavelston asked.

"This one was only lit for a second, then it went out," Link explained. Then he made it even clearer. "It came from the Pass."

Now it was Gavelston's turn to start staring at the distance. From here one could see a grand view of the Kasuto Pass in the daytime. At night however, that was a different story.

"Do you think it's a scouting party from Hyrule?" Gavelston couldn't help but ask. He'd been infected, bitten by that little bug they did indeed call hope. "Do you think they've finally arrived?"

"I don't know," Link said. "But I don't like the alternative."

Gaveltson felt his stomach drop at the only alternative he could think of.

"No," he said resolutely. "No, Vael wouldn't just ignore and waltz by us. He's going to snub us out first, _then_ he'll begin moving his troops into the Pass. He's too arrogant, too much of a showboat."

"We still need to be sure," Rusl said. "If it is a friendly force, then they need to get in through Vael's perimeter somehow."

"Do you know of such a place to get through?"

"No…but I think a couple of experienced trackers like Link and I can find a way."

* * *

They waited until the cannon barrage restarted, then halted again. Then, Link and Rusl dropped over the Low Wall onto the loose sand of the basin sandwiched between the fort and the Kasuto Pass. Like before, Link almost lost his footing, but he recovered in time to prevent Rusl from surfing down the slope. Though they did want to reach the bottom of the slope, they needed to remain slow and quiet, and a miniature avalanche of sand and clanging of swords in sheathes would not be slow _or_ quiet. And so, inch by inch, the two cautiously progressed toward the bottom, and both let out sighs of relief when they finally made it to firm even ground. They waited, watching for signs that they'd been spotted, but none came. Despite the pitch black of night, Link and Rusl did the best they could to examine their surroundings. Link noticed, for the first time, that there were shrubs and thickets scattered throughout the basin that could be used as effective concealment in this light (or lack thereof).

Link was pondering how he missed that when Rusl patted his arm and pointed to their left, along the edge of the basin that eventually reached the mountains. From down here, the edge was practically a cliff overlooking the basin that, unlike the other leading south from the Main Gate which eventually sloped onto the same ground level as the basin and the Kasuto Pass, remained high and towering until it joined the mountain range. At the foot of that long cliff, several of those shrubs and thickets were sprinkled, running the edge's entire length to the mountain range. Link briefly thought of old games the adults in Ordon showed the children, in which the object was to draw a line and connect a jumble of set dots in such a manner as to form a picture.

That was how Link and Rusl moved along the edge of the basin, moving from thicket to shrub to thicket, always stopping to ensure they weren't seen by the enemy before moving again. When they got halfway along the basin, a battery of artillery came in sight, and Link's pointed ears could pick up snatches of whispers, though none were loud enough to be understood. To ensure they were as careful as possible, they began moving to the next source of cover one at a time rather than together. When they were even closer, they slowed down their speed. They were almost evenly between the basin edge and the battery when Rusl stopped in a thicket and waited for Link, who started his crouched trek slowly. Part way there, rebels at the battery started speaking in raised voices. Link froze for a moment, his heart racing in his ears and sweat trickling down his back. But it soon became apparent to him that he wasn't the cause of the volume increase: the battery was preparing to fire. That would mean explosions, which would mean perfect sound cover, eliminating the need to be quiet. But the flashing fires could also expose the two bandits sneaking through dangerous territory.

Link's heart was now hammering his eardrums as he sprinted at a crouch toward the shrub Rusl was hiding in, both of them praying to the Divine Three that nobody saw him. Despite the hammering, Link could hear the battery commander instructing his men, and he knew he didn't have long before the firing started. His feet seemed to be trying to match his heart's pace, and failing, when he slid leg first into the shrub, followed immediately by the thunderous barrage. Link and Rusl had always experienced it on the receiving end, but this was different. They were at the source, the ground punching them in the chest with each blast, their ears ringing, Link's particularly. Neither knew how long they stayed there until the firing stopped, but even when it did they remained still. When enough time had passed that their nerves were as settled as possible, which was much, they resumed moving.

* * *

The Pass was empty.

There was no scouting party. There was no one. Link and Rusl stood before it, unable to tear their disbelieving eyes from the canyon which extended into the pitch black. Kasuto Pass was so far behind the enemy set before the Low Wall that even if the Calatian Rebel with the sharpest eyes in the world turned around from their position they wouldn't see the two lone men standing in the night.

Rusl's face bore a rather disappointed expression. Link simply couldn't close the small gap his mouth was making. They'd both gotten the notion in their heads that help had arrived, that their extensive tenure in the monotony was over, that they were going to go home. But this wasn't the case. They were still going to be stuck in those walls, they were still going to sit and rot in that stone prison. Well…that wasn't entirely certain. An idea flittered through Rusl's head, one he tried to dismiss immediately, but not before he could stop its escape.

"It'd be so easy…" he said, barely loud enough to be heard. He realized he was testing himself and his friend, letting the words be heard to see their reaction. "We could just keep going. Say we were found by a rebel patrol and retreated into the pass and lost them. No one would ever know. We could be in our own beds within a couple days instead of back in that pen."

"Yeah," Link whispered, his own words barely audible. "So easy…"

He simply stood there, his stature never even flinching. Then he turned to his right and began walking, leaving the pass behind him. He was staying.

"So, why're we going back this way?" Rusl asked as he followed the younger man.

"Scouting party of our own," Link replied, his gaze now off toward the rebels' backs. "We find a hole in their perimeter that can be used for reinforcements when they _do_ show up."

"And who says we haven't?" a voice said, startling both men into a halt as several others stood from behind the rocks to their side, crossbows trained on the lone Ordonians. The first thing both Link and Rusl noticed was the size of these men, very reminiscent of a certain hero they knew. The accent was also slightly familiar.

"You're from the Burok Province, aren't you." Link dared to guess. The men's crossbows lowered and one of them stepped forward.

"Probably the best news you've heard all week, eh?" he said, his accent definitely resembling Bargus's, but with its own unique differences that could probably be explained as regional. "So, judging from what we heard, you're the guys who're gonna get us in the Rock?"

"Yes," Link answered as he began scanning others who made themselves visible, his count now nearing twenty-something. "How'd you get out here by the Pass? I thought your province was to the north."

"It is," the seeming-leader said. "We headed straight south, but we were too far to the west. We headed east and found the mountains here that marked the border and followed 'em 'til we found the pass about an hour ago. We were just deciding to risk breaking through the rebels' lines when we saw you two comin' from the north."

"You found a hole already?" Rusl asked.

"They're cocky," the man replied in answer. "They can keep anyone in who's trying to escape, that's for damn sure. But if we're fast enough, they can't keep us out."

* * *

A Calatian man named Bruhn, a veteran of territory skirmishes before joining the Army, was just about to find some peaceful sleep atop the South Wall when a bird whistled. A bird that had no business in these parts of the country…

This whistle was followed by a small grappling hook leaping over the parapet and clattering to the ground beside Bruhn. It was then dragged to the space between parapets where it lodged, and the rope attached to it began gyrating as a man climbed it. Bruhn never drew his sword, and he smiled when he saw the mighty Hero of Twilight himself scramble over the wall, his foreigner friend right behind him. The Hero then sped off down the ramp into the courtyard where he was ordering the men to open the main gate. The gate swung inward, and the Hero began waving a torch madly over his head. Then, noise.

Outside, men began shouting, horns began blowing, but under it all horses stampeded as they blazed through the perimeter and barreled up the gentle slope and through the gate into the courtyard, the men of Liberty Rock cheering as they did. Men joined the new arrivals in the courtyard where they shook their hands, their shoulders, and welcomed them to the prison they had to keep everyone out of. Bargus was especially happy to see his figurative kin, and he let it show.

It wasn't until after the next cannon barrage, which left no man injured, that a number was finally determined of how many people had made it in the walls. It was, fortunately, the entire strength of Burok militia that had traveled to the Rock's aid. Unfortunately, that entire militia was only thirty-two men.

Now, only 235 warriors held a fort surrounded by thousands.


	9. Pregame

**Author's Note: Well, we're nearing the end. I predict this fic to end at chapter 12, and after that I have a special chapter in mind: a rather favorite fic author of mine (he mostly writes Halo stories, but lately has shifted to a Doom Trilogy he recently finished) started posting a "Trivia Chapter" at the end of his stories, where he fills in trivia and such regarding the fic. In published works, this would be called an "Author's Notes" section, and I intend to add one of my own to my fics, including others I've finished or am working on. **

**And big thanks go out to Trickster's Imagination and Shadsie (formerly Lady Shadowcat) for all the reviews I've been getting. I can't say how cool it is that you guys like it so much.

* * *

**

_Our twelfth day in the fort was almost as monotonous as the rest: we made repairs to the walls damaged by the nightly barrage, we ate our lunch as made by that one soldier -a man whose name I also never learned, but I'm not sure of his ultimate fate-, and we sat at the walls in our positions. Waiting. We were always waiting, and would be for just a few days more._

_There was one small change to the routine, though: our Burok reinforcements provided new faces and voices that reminded us that there was a world beyond the stone walls, one where people were happy and lively. They also brought new tales that spread amongst the walls, some becoming distorted in the quick repetitions and overhearings. _

_When sundown came the new militia had its first experience with the cannon barrage. We explained the meaning of the cursed song the Rebels played, but even when they expected it, the sheer ferocity of the barrage made them startle in a way that was just so funny, given how large and hardy they were. Even more humorous was the contrast provided by the rest of us, men who'd experienced it for days on end and so didn't even flinch. It was only the random barrages throughout the night that elicited a reaction from us, and even that was slight. Despite how frayed our nerves were, we hid it well._

_The militia's first full night in the fort is one I remember both with a smile and a chill in my spine. Said militia was assigned to the East Wall, but one or two of them managed to join our little community around the fire behind the Low Wall. Only two men remained at the wall itself, part of a scheduled rotation of watchmen to eye the enemy in that shadowy basin. The rest of us, including Link, Rusl, and our large guests, ate and told stories around the fire. One such story ended with the lot of us howling in laughter. As we settled down, one of the archers addressed Link._

"_So, Master Hero," he said through spurts of giggles. "Why don't you share a story about your great quest?"_

"_Link," the hero in question corrected automatically, though something told me he'd recognized this as a hopeless gesture ages ago. "I'd have to think to pick just one."_

"_I know, tell us about a fight with one of those Shadow Beasts!"another archer spoke up._

"_Oh yes," another added. "It must've been a thrill to fight one of those mindless abominations!"_

_Link's response was quiet, his eyes downcast though his face still looked upon us all: "I hope so,"_

_For a moment, there was confused silence as we tried to digest that. "I beg your pardon?"one of the archers finally asked._

"_I hope they were only mindless abominations," Link answered, his eyes still meeting none of ours._

"_Well," one archer chuckled nervously, as if he were suddenly afraid of reprimand. "Why-why wouldn't they be?"_

_Link's eyes finally came forward, but they didn't seem to look at us- it was as if he were looking _through_ us. _

"_When the bards tell the stories of what I did, they change some of the specifics for the sake of entertaining the audience. A lot of what they say is true, but they'll downplay the role of others or some such. One thing they don't talk about is the origin of the Shadow Beasts." There were some curious glances amongst the archers before their gazes snapped back to Link when he continued._

"_It's true that I've been to the Twilight Realm and met the people who live there, the Twili. They're no different than Gorons or Zoras: they're a different race with their own culture and language. The only difference, other than their biology obviously, was that they didn't speak Hylian. They were still people, though, with feelings and morals…and they were used."_

"_The Shadow Beasts were made from them. The madman who took their kingship by force used dark magic to turn his people into the monsters he needed for an army. He then set them loose on Hyrule, and anyone they killed suffered the same fate as them. To be slain by a Shadow Beast was to become one." The implications of this sunk in on us all as Link continued, his eyes still seemingly focusing on something a thousand yards behind us._

"_Traders and merchants in the Faron Woods, fishermen on Lake Hylia, and so many residents of Kakariko Village…they all became those things, and I hope with all my being that they were truly mindless abominations. Because the alternative…the alternative scares me."_

_As we all thought of it, I think we all came to the same conclusion. I know I did, and I wasn't far off from Link's summary of it._

"_Because if they weren't mindless abominations, then that means that inside, they still had their minds, and had to watch while they ripped, ravaged, and slaughtered. They had no say in it, but they would've had to watch. Merchants tearing their partners and friends limb from limb…a mother strangling her child…a man shattering his lover's skull. There was a way to change them back, but more often than not I simply had to kill them. And I can't help but wonder: if they kept their minds, would they _want_ to be saved and live with what they've done for the rest of their lives?"_

_I thought of the screams the Beasts supposedly let out during combat, and wondered if those might've actually been the sound of a soul begging for a way out…any way…_

"_For all I know I did them a favor…I've stayed up several nights wondering about that…and hearing those awful screams…"_

_When Link finished, his eyes continued staring through us, and we were all silent. No one moved, even when the next barrage began.

* * *

_

Bargus didn't like being penned up like this. Nobody did, but he was the most vocal about it. He wanted a fight already, but he would have to wait for it…and Bargus wasn't always a patient man. But he recognized the need for the virtue in this situation, and so on the thirteenth night of besiegement he sought out a distraction. He headed south and soon came to the Low Wall, where the Hylian archers were having another of their campfire groupings. They were still jovial and talkative, but less so than two nights ago, and certainly more so than when he saw them last night: it had been as if they were at a funeral. On the Low Wall itself stood two archers, one on each end, their eyes focused on the enemy below, as usual. The archer on the end that met the South Wall, however, was actually Link.

"Another one of those nights, eh?" he asked rhetorically as he came to a stop behind the wall. On the average man standing on the ground, the floor of the wall was level with the spot just above his knee. On Bargus, it was more like just above the middle of his shin. When Link turned to face him, his head was level with the giant's neck.

"Another one of those nights," Link replied with one of those humorless smiles that were becoming more commonplace around the fort. He took a couple of steps away from the parapets and squatted on his haunches, so he'd have to look up to Bargus. This made the giant remember a warrior from his village, one whose adventuring days were behind him. He'd sit in his favorite chair and tell stories of his days to children who'd gather before him and sit with their legs crossed, their eyes and ears attentive to every detail. He supposed every village had such a man, and the way Link looked up to him at the moment made him feel like such a man, for some reason.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask," the giant started. "What was harder: walking on walls or controlling that tornado?"

Link actually chuckled before answering. "Walking on walls. My knees and ankles have to support all my weight in a way they aren't made to, so to speak. Then there was the problem of not losing my hat." The two shared a good laugh at that before they settled down.

"How'd you do it, anyway?" Bargus asked. "The stories never say."

"There's a lot the stories don't say," Link replied before answering. "The walls and ceilings in question were magnetic, and I was wearing iron boots."

Bargus remained silent, expecting him to continue. When he didn't, he said, "That's it?" There was no disappointment, shock, or outrage, just a mild sense of learning an answer to a long-puzzling riddle.

"Yep," Link replied.

"And the wind thing?"

"A magic boomerang,"

"Breathing underwater?"

"A magic suit of armor that had the downside of being especially susceptible to fire,"

"How'd you beat that Star Game I hear so much about?"

"Ah," Link said with a smile. "_That_ one, I keep to myself." Again, the two shared a laugh that eventually faded away. They sat in silence for a moment, their gazes lingering on the interior of the fort.

"How did you beat that cavalry troop?" Link asked.

"Simple," Bargus said. "I hid in a cave. If I were out in the open they would've stampeded over me faster than their commander could say 'charge'. So I hid in a cave, where they'd have to abandon their horses and try to rat me out in small and manageable groups. I was fortunate that they didn't have any bombs, else they could've simply blasted me out." Link nodded at this, and then the silence resumed. "Why do you always ask people to call you 'Link' instead of 'Hero'?"

Link was silent for a moment, until finally the words came to him. "When people look at me, they don't see me. They see a title. A story. 'The man who can do this' or 'the man who can do that'. They never just see me. I've done all those things they say I did, but they put so much emphasis on what I can do that they forget I'm just another man. They treat me like some sort of minor deity when I'm not. I'm just a man who was in the right place at the right time, who did what he knew was the right thing, and always had a little help along the way. But they don't see that, and they probably don't even care about that. They just see a legend. It's almost like I don't even exist, only the Chosen Hero does…"

The two were, again, silent as the night wore on, and when the next barrage started they simply remained where they were like two statues enduring another one of countless storms.

* * *

The garrison of Liberty Rock had been in the fort and surrounded by an army of countless Rebels for fourteen days. In some lands that was considered two weeks. Ever since the morning when Colonel Gavelston had raised the alarm and ordered everyone to their posts, they all knew it was only a matter of time until the red-armored soldiers began their charge to try and take these walls. And time had ticked by ever since, with no serious attempt to take the fort made, only the nightly barrages and the "strength test" on the seventh day. And so now, they knew their time was short.

They all felt it, even the recently arrived Burok militia, though they didn't feel it as strongly as the rest of the garrison, those who'd been there since day one. It was a grip in their chests, as if something was applying pressure to their rib cages. Link could almost feel it rising into his throat, and only intense thought of his home and wife made him calm.

They were all tired. Fourteen days with barely any healthy sleep, their stress so high it was amazing some of the older warriors weren't complaining of chest pains. Unlike most, if not all, of the previous days, there was no music in the Rock. No one could find the spirit to play or sing. What they all felt was a grim resignation. They'd bided their time and lost almost all hope of help arriving anytime soon, if ever, but they held on. Now they simply wanted it to be over with, no matter the outcome. Well, that wasn't entirely true. There was one outcome they would never accept, one which involved a white flag and a mass execution.

It was a miracle that the North Wall was still standing. The horses in the stables in the East Wall had been fed and groomed, but their exercise was bare minimal, and they were growing restless and cooped up. Some of the red potions the fort had been stocked on had gone bad, their ingredients not as potent as thought. But they still had plenty of arrows, cannonballs, and gunpowder. As long as they could stand on their own two feet, the fortress of Liberty Rock would not be taken without a fight. If General Vael wanted it so badly, he'd have to pay for it dearly.

* * *

_Clack-clack-cla-clack, clack clack clack, clack cllllllllllllllllack, clack-clack-cla-clack_

It was sundown and, as always, the band was doing its job. Link and Rusl sat around the as-yet-unlit campfire, Link reclined against the crate of arrows while Rusl ate a small bowl of stew. Like everyone else, they had bags under their eyes, though Link's weren't as obvious given how accustomed he was to long periods of little sleep. To offset this, the right shoulder of the back of Link's tunic was covered in dried, cracked blood that gave it an ugly blackish maroon splotch.

"By the Divine Three I despise that tune," Rusl grumbled when the trumpets joined the snare drums. For a moment, Link didn't answer…then he stood and went to his pack, retrieved his violin bag, and walked off toward the main battery. Several curious eyes followed him as he stopped at the parapets facing west, then placed his bag on a box. He retrieved his instrument, readied it, and waited. Before long, the Casandea ended once again, and then the silence began that would be shattered by the artillery.

But not tonight.

Link's violin answered the Rebel music, a slow and proud melody that travelled across the plains between the fort and the surrounding army. For a moment, there was only the music, then Calatian Loyalists on the fort's walls began singing. They were quiet at first, but as more joined their volume increased until every one of them was singing. None of the Hylians knew it, and Link hadn't either until Bargus had taught it to him.

It was Calatia's national anthem.

The Rebels didn't fire while they sang, it was as if they couldn't. And then, Rusl thought he was hearing things. But he wasn't. The band in the Rebel army had actually started playing too, playing along with Link in the anthem of the country they fought for. He didn't understand why, but he didn't care: it was so beautiful he wouldn't have wanted to understand. To understand that the Rebels were nothing more than men deceived by a leader who'd convinced them that their beautiful country was corrupt and needed to be restored would be to diminish the beauty of that moment, to taint it in a way no one could describe. The song and music continued, until finally the band and the singing stopped, and Link's violin trailed out a few more notes. Then, silence. The wind didn't blow, the crows didn't caw, no one broke the silence in anyway.

The artillery didn't fire.

For the longest moment, the garrison held its breath and waited for the barrage. _And it didn't come._ The men in Liberty Rock looked amongst each other in disbelief when they finally heard something in the distance.

It was a single voice. He was too far away to discern what he was shouting, screaming, but his tone was clear: rage. Unfathomable, unadulterated rage, a fury the likes of which few could understand. Every man in the Rock knew who that enraged voice belonged to, and they knew that no one in that band would see the next sundown.

* * *

It was almost four in the morning in the walls of Liberty Rock. Almost every man in the garrison was enjoying the first almost-full-night's worth of sleep they'd had in weeks. Torches and campfires continued to flicker, and the shadows were the only moving thing in the fort. In fact, only one man was awake in the entire fort: Link.

He was sitting in his usual spot, reclined against the arrow-crate with his bow cradled to his chest and his blanket wrapped over his torso. He'd managed to sleep a few hours but had woken recently and couldn't return to the land of dreams. Now he simply sat and whistled a low, quiet tune, the one he heard in the wind every night in Hyrule Field. His mind was wandering, as it often did when he wasn't doing anything but sitting. He thought of Hena. He thought of Ordon Vllage. He thought of Princess Zelda, the Gorons, Kakariko Village, Midna, Lake Hylia, his family he'd never know, and the family he might never see. He thought of the Hero's Shade, who'd taught him the sword techniques he continued to use to this day.

He thought about a lot of things, but he could never stay on one thought. His mind was wandering, a runaway train of memories and thoughts. Eventually, it began lulling him into a doze. His whistling began dwindling away, his eyes closed, and within seconds he would be aslee-

_shff_

Link's eyes snapped open, his senses suddenly on full alert. He knew what that sound was: friction on loose sand. He'd heard it twice so far, both times when he'd leaped over the Low Wall. He couldn't hear anything else, but there was a tense feeling in his chest that wouldn't go away. So, Link threw his blanket aside and stood, silently creeping over to the Low Wall. He stepped onto it and quietly approached the parapet before peeking over. What he saw made him duck quickly: soldiers in red armor quietly making their way up the steep slope. Within minutes they'd be able to climb over, then it'd be a matter of killing people in their sleep while opening the Main Gate.

Link had other ideas, as evidenced when he withdrew an arrow from his quiver, knocked it, and drew the string back to full draw. He then stood and aimed at the nearest Rebel on the slope. This unfortunate soul had the displeasure of actually seeing Link and flinching before the arrow slammed into his throat. The Rebel was thrown back by the impact, and the sound of his body and armor clattering down the hillside like a boulder in a rockslide (and taking down a few other Rebels like bowling pins) shattered through the quiet night, and the Hylian archers at the Low Wall jerked from their sleep. The rest of the garrison was awakened by Link, who drew in a deep breath and let loose a holler that echoed among the walls.

"_THEY'RE HEEEEEERE!"_


	10. The Battle of Liberty Rock

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1 for diclaimer.

* * *

"_THEY'RE HEEEEEERE!"_

That one voice was enough to cause an entire fortress to explode into life. Soldiers all over the walls jerked awake and looked over their parapets to see forces of infantry well within bow range. The distance between their front troops and the walls was barely longer than the courtyard in Hyrule Castle Town. This had just barely registered in their minds when bugle calls signaled throughout the Rebel army, and suddenly they charged. The archers on the walls fired their arrows, each one scoring a guaranteed hit because of just how close the charging Rebels were. But the ones who fell dead didn't even cause falter for the rest of their charging comrades, who simply leaped over them and continued forward.

Colonel Gavelston's quarters only had one window, and it opened to the courtyard. But he didn't need to see outside the walls to know what was happening. He had taken to sleeping in his armor, as the whole garrison had, and so burst from his room with one of his crossbows in his hands almost immediately after the first volley. The door beside his burst open almost simultaneously, and Turo followed his superior in a sprint to the North Wall. They passed Captain Rhodus, who'd rushed from his own quarters and was running past them toward the ramp leading onto the West Wall. Two of the cannons on the North Wall fired just before Gavelston and Turo ran up the dirt berm between the two batteries and joined the archers firing into the charging Rebels.

When Gavelston reached his post he didn't even have to aim before firing. In fact, the forward echelons of troops were already at the base of the wall. The other two cannons couldn't even fire and hit anything, so their crewmen simply grabbed their bows and crossbows to fire down on them. The Loyalists could hit the rear troops with ease, but the rest of the wave was too close to fire on and remain safe from enemy fire. One crewman learned this the hard way when leaned out over the edge to fire down. He had just fired his arrow when one of the Rebels' own such projectiles slammed into his shoulder from the top, piercing down into his heart. His body fell into the teeming mass of Rebels as they began raising their ladders.

Captain Rhodus had just reached the West Wall when he saw the first Rebel leap off the top of a ladder and begin the fight on the battlements. Loyalists and Hylians alike drew their swords and did their best to stop the Rebels at the ladders, but there were just too many. This was a dangerous situation: the West Wall was the longest part of the Rock's defenses, and needed the most men to hold. With Rebels gaining a foothold there, the defenders would be spread out to hold it. If they spread too thin, Vael's forces could just punch right through.

* * *

"THEY'RE HEEEEEERE!"

_Those two words were all I needed to hear to get me off my back and onto the Low Wall. What I saw was a shooting gallery of Rebels on the slope too occupied with keeping their balance to use their shields effectively. The twelve of us simply flung arrow after arrow at them, and it was made even easier when two cannon shots from the North Wall sent tremors through the fort's foundation, and the loose sand of the basin slipped out from under several Rebels. _

_I don't know how long we stood their firing our arrows, but those Rebels in the basin never made anything resembling progress up the slope. All around the fort I could hear screams and clashing metal. I stole a glance back while restocking my quiver and saw that the West Wall had become an anthill of red, blue, and occasionally silver armor. I had just retook my post when Link spoke up from somewhere to my right._

"_Rusl! I think five people can hold them off here, take the other five and get that barracks ready! I think we're gonna need to head there soon!"_

_With that, he took off toward the main battery, which hadn't fired yet the whole time. I hadn't even knocked my next arrow yet when Rusl picked his five "helpers". I was one of them, and so we went into the barracks and started overturning tables and bunks, forming barricades to fight from behind. We positioned them to form a low wall of its own that any entering from the front doors would run into. I carried out my task of bringing what few healing supplies we had downstairs, and we had just finished when an explosion rocked the foundations of Liberty Rock, one much larger than the work of one of our cannons.

* * *

_

"Rusl! I think five people can hold them off here, take the other five and get that barracks ready! I think we're gonna need to head there soon!" Link told his old friend before turning and running for the ramp leading to the main battery. The West Wall was looking more red than blue, both in armor and blood, and Link needed to get there. As he neared said ramp, soldiers from the South Wall joined the fight on the West Wall, a little boost of reinforcements but a boost nonetheless. They needed everything they could get.

Link blasted up the ramp and charged into the melee on the wall. Swords, shields, and armor clanged and clashed all along the battlements, men screamed as their lives ended or they ended others', flesh was ripped, and war raged all around. Link didn't bother counting how many men he killed (he'd never want to know no matter how long or short he lived) nor did he track his progress through the crowd until he found himself almost running into Captain Rhodus, his sword covered in blood.

"We can't hold much longer!" the cavalry officer shouted over the din of chaos before he swung his blade at a man behind Link. The hero in turn ran his sword through a Rebel who had just drawn his own weapon. Link and Rhodus were then back to back, turning and fighting as they shouted over their shoulders at each other. "At this rate we'll be in the barracks before we've even seen their second wave!"

"There's a _second_ wave?" Link asked incredulously before blocking a strike with his shield.

"And even more! How're things at the Low Wall?"

"Gavelston was too pessimistic! You can hold that wall with _five_ good archers!"

"So if you're only holding the wall with five archers, where are the others?"

"Getting the barracks ready! Why isn't the twenty-pounder firing?"

"They're already too close to the walls! The crew spiked it so the Rebels can't use it when we fall back! The cannons on the North Wall probab-"

Rhodus never finished his sentence before it was cut off a strangled cry as his chest was gashed open by a strike that'd cut through his defenses. Link turned to see the officer on the ground in a spreading pool of blood before he struck down the Rebel who'd done the deed.

The fighting had lessened enough in the area of the wall Link was on that he knew he had one chance, then no more. He dropped to his knees, his sword on the ground beside him, and started sifting through his pack until he withdrew was he was looking for: his last fairy. He had just brought it out of the bag when a Loyalist soldier fell dead, his body knocking into Link's back. He could only watch in horror as the bottle flew over the edge into the courtyard below, where he didn't even hear the glass shatter over the roar of combat.

* * *

Gavelston swapped crossbows with Turo again and fired another bolt, this one straight into the face of a Rebel who'd just reached the top of the ladder that'd been placed right in front of the colonel's post. The Rebel's body fell into the mass of his fellows below him, followed quickly by the ladder he'd climbed moments earlier. Gavelston was firing his next bolt before the dust had settled around either.

"Incoming!" one of the crewman on the batteries shouted before ducking down and raising his shield. While the others on the batteries followed suit, those on the berms simply ducked behind the section of the wall before them. Arrows fell from the sky, impacting with the wood or dirt around them. This was the third such volley they'd endured, and when they stood to resume firing they didn't see the fourth volley following right behind it. Loyalists fell with arrows in their bodies, and Colonel Gavelston only made a noise as if his gut had been punched when an arrow slammed into his chest, right near his shoulder. The hit spun him on one foot so that his back was now to the Rebels, and that one foot slipped out from under him. Gavelston dropped onto his rear, his back leaning against the inside of the top of the North Wall and blood dribbling from his mouth.

"Sir!" Turo cried in shock as he dropped to a knee beside his superior. "Sir are you ok?"

Gavelston coughed, more blood trickling down his chin. "No," he managed to wheeze. "No, I'm not Turo."

"I'm going to get you to the barra-"

"No…no don't…" Gavelston's breath now sounded as if it was being drawn through muck. "It's no use…listen, listen carefully…I want you to go to the Keep…you're no fighter, we both know that…go to the Keep and wait…This fort won't last the next hour, and I…want you to be there when…when whoever's left pulls back…You've been a loyal…assistant Turo, and I know…some officer somewhere's gonna…gonna need you to keep track of his head..."

He held up his hand weakly, and Turo grasped it strongly.

"Good luck, Turo…I'm glad to say you're my frie-"

His words were silenced by an explosion as, for him, Turo, and more than half of the men at the North Wall, the world ended in a ball of fire. That fireball was the near simultaneous impact of several Rebel cannons firing large bombs. Dirt, rubble, stone, and charred bodies fell from where they'd been thrown in the sky. The cannons hadn't fired until that point as to avoid hitting their own forces. Finally, however, Vael had grown impatient and gave the order, uncaring of the dozens of soldiers on the ladders leaning against the North Wall or the hundreds crowded around its base.

There was now a gaping hole in the center of the North Wall. Both of the batteries there had been half-obliterated, and the remaining halves were covered in dead or dying men. A section of one battery right at the hole collapsed, and a cannon rode the debris as it fell and buried several Rebels under the weight of wood and steel.

* * *

Link and everyone on the West Wall was almost knocked off their feet by the explosion of the North Wall's demise, and some even _were_ knocked over. In the aftermath of the explosion, everything was almost still and quiet. Even the Rebels seemed still, as shocked at the new turn of events as their enemy. Then, the silence was broken.

"_FALL BACK!"_ Link screamed as loud as he could. This seemed to resume the action as the Rebels pressed the advantage, and the Loyalists and Hylians held them off while retreating. Then the pressure lessened at the West Wall, and the garrison knew why: everyone was heading north. Bargus, the Burok Militia, and the Loyalists at the East Wall acted first, leaping down the stairs and even off the wall itself as they ran to the courtyard before the great hole. There they readied their weapons as the first waves of Rebels began pouring in.

"_Come on ya bairns, this is one rammy ya won't EVER forget!"_ Bargus screamed before a swing of his mighty axe took down several Rebels almost at once. Axes, swords, and spears flashed in the dance of war that was as natural to people as arguing, but Bargus and his men held fast, blocking the Rebel waves from further advance as the garrison from the West Wall ran across the courtyard and into the barracks, some carrying their wounded companions. Link stayed on the West Wall for a bit, for despite the main force heading for the hole in the North Wall, some decided to scale the ladders instead. Link took care of some of these before he turned and leaped off the wall and into the courtyard.

The mass of warriors holding off the wave had put up a fight, but sheer numbers had weakened it and whittled it away. It was a simple matter of a man being pushed down by a bigger man. Soon only Bargus and a few stragglers remained, with the hero himself obviously being the Rebels' biggest threat, both figuratively and literally. Link was almost to their position when he saw the Rebel archers on what remained of the North Wall and its batteries, their bows and crossbows all aimed at one target.

"_BARGUS!"_ Link warned, but it was already too late. Arrows and bolts flew, the first hitting Bargus's throat. The rest pierced his armor, turning his body into a pin cushion. Bargus's axe dropped as his hands went to his throat in a vain attempt to hold in the blood pouring out, his life spilling with it. Then, the Rebels pouring through the hole made another push, and their front line was armed with long and sharp spears. As one, all these men stuck Bargus and pushed, and with a mighty _thud_ he fell like a tree, helpless as Rebels continued to slash and stab even after he no longer moved. It was prudent to be sure with such a warrior.

Link watched for only a moment before he turned and ran for the East Wall, but unlike the rest of the garrison he didn't run for the barracks, where he could hear men shouting and scrambling about in preparation for the rush that was sure to come. His path took him into the stables, where the horses were whining and restless, almost screaming in fear and anxiety. He didn't know what drove him, but Link followed his instincts and set to work.

Minutes later, as the Rebels in the courtyard were grouping for a charge, the ground rumbled with the thunder of a stampede. A mob of horses burst from the East Wall and trampled men underneath them as they scattered about the courtyard in a frantic rush. Some of the Rebels were able to defend themselves with their spears, but by the time the herd of horses found the hole in the North Wall and stampeded through it, as if directed by a hive mind, the only a few Rebels in the courtyard remained unharmed. As the herd trampled through the hole in the wall, they overran the Rebels that were trying to get in, and those who defended themselves only added more obstructions to their charge in the large bodies of dead horses that remained. By the time all the surviving horses made it past Vael's army and into the vast and dry plains of outer Calatia, the hole in the North Wall was almost impassible because of the bodies of soldiers and horses.

Link emerged from the stables, his skin covered in a sheen of sweat, blood spattered on his tunic, sword, and arm, and dirt smearing the side of his face. His hair was plastered to his forehead, but he ignored it all as he looked across the courtyard and saw the few Rebels who remained, all more occupied with regrouping or helping their injured comrades to notice him. Wanting to get out of sight before that changed, Link ran along the East Wall heading south, glancing into the windows as he passed the front of the Barracks. When he reached the corner of the Barracks, he turned it and came to the lawn where he'd started this hell, and he was surprised to see the five Hylian archers still on the Low Wall, though they weren't firing into the basin anymore. There was, however, one new arrival, a man in Loyalist armor holding a sword in one hand and a torch in the other.

"Master Hero," the Loyalist said, his breath ragged and tired. "I'm here to help with the…the…" words seemed to escape him after the chaos he'd no doubt endured. "Detail thing, the one to keep them out of the Barracks while our people pull back to the Keep when the time comes."

Link nodded before addressing the Hylian archers on the Low Wall. "And what about you guys?"

"They got tired of taking the same two inches of dirt over and over again," one tried to joke, though the sheer exhaustion in his vice belied it. "They rerouted around the South Wall, and we figured they'd joined the West Wall offense."

"We didn't have any instructions on what to do after they ran," another said. "So we decided to stay. Whatever help you need, Master Link, we're here to lend it."

As if this sign of loyalty were a cue, the main gates of Liberty Rock exploded in a ball of flame similar to the one which destroyed the North Wall. Link recognized bombs when he heard them, though those sounded like more than even _he_ carried in his pack. The South Wall remained standing, the only difference was the smoke and dust cloud which hung were the main gate once stood.

From this cloud emerged a new formation of Rebel troops, who forged straight ahead into the courtyard. Immediately to their right was the Barracks, and even closer to the gates than that was the yard where the seven warriors now stood in an arrow formation pointing toward the impossibly larger force of attackers. Link stood with his fellow garrison members as they watched this force linger past, almost as if it were ignoring them, and was only focused on getting as many people into the courtyard as it could.

Link's face was dark with blood pumping through his veins, but it lost a noticeable bit of color when the realization hit that that was _exactly_ what the Rebels were doing.

Before he knew it he was looking at an endless sea of Rebels stretching all the way to the West Wall, and there were even Rebels on top of _that_. Link could only stare at this sea of red armor and weapons while he was only flanked by three men with swords on each side.

In that moment, Link knew, really _knew_, that he was going to die. He was never going home, never going to see anyone again, that his adventure was finally over tonight. And the same was true of the men beside him. And even they knew, in that moment, that he was equal with them, that he was one of them. They were one and the same. He was no longer the great Chosen Hero to them, he was finally just another one of them.

But Link didn't think of that, even as the officers throughout the sea of Rebels readied their charge. He didn't think of that even as he nodded his head and readied his weapons. He thought of a peaceful lake, a meadow in a spring breeze, and the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen.

And then the Rebels charged, and with a war cry of his own, Link lead the others and met them.

* * *

_Not long after the massive explosion which we knew could only mean the end was near, we waited in the barracks until the doors opened and our people rushed in, some carrying wounded. Once the last one was in, we closed the doors again and barricaded them. As we settled behind the barricades we'd formed from tables and beds, we waited while some kept watch through the windows. We treated our wounded with what few potions we had and waited for what seemed like an eternity when another explosion sent tremors through the fort, and the men at the windows gaped outside._

"_By the Three…" one said. "There's so many…" I can remember the fear in his voice so well._

_For another period of time we waited while we heard the marching outside. Then there was silence, followed by the shouting of orders. We knew the end was near, and so we braced ourselves. Suddenly we heard the war cries of a charge, then the men at the windows turned and bolted for the barricades we were covered behind. _

"_They've got bomb arrows!" one screamed. "They're aiming for the doo-"_

_The doors exploding cut off his sentence, as well as one of his legs, I think. More bomb arrows followed through the holes, and here everything is a sort of blank for me. The next thing I remember is being on the ground, my ears ringing and everything sounding like I was hearing it through cotton plugged in my ears. And everything seemed to move really slow. There were soldiers all around, Rebels and Loyalists engaged in bloody close quarters combat. Shields were often cast aside, and some struggles were decided by a man using his hands rather than a weapon. _

_I saw the man who'd been healed by the fairy at one point, his eyes glassy and dead as he lay on the floor, a hole in his stomach from which his life had bled out. I could see one of my fellow King's Cavalrymen, pinned on his back by a Rebel who was struggling to plunge a knife into his throat, and my companion struggling through sweat and tears to stop him, and failing by the second. I remember being kicked over onto my back, and seeing a Rebel raise his sword to plunge it in my gut. He would have killed me there had another sword not burst from his stomach. He was pulled away, and then Rusl was before me, helping me up and saying "Come on!"_

_Rusl dragged me to my feet, and carried me out the side door where we were retreating. When we stepped out into the night sky, I turned to my right and couldn't believe what I saw: an ocean tide of Rebel soldiers sweeping upon a pebble that was halting it, a pebble made of Link, a Calatian Loyalist, and three of my fellow cavalrymen. Two others lay dead on the ground, and as I watched another was struck down by a spear, but the remaining warriors held them off, screaming and swinging with everything they had._

_That was the last time I saw Link, surrounded by Rebel soldiers but fighting on with every ounce of strength and determination he had._

_Then Rusl turned me around and we hurried for the door to the Keep. Others were running in ahead of us, and when we entered the dimly lit main chamber I was knocked to the ground. Someone fell on me and was unable to stand, and so I was pinned there on the floor. My senses seemed jarred back to normal by the fall, and so I could see torchlight from the doorway through the legs of the other survivors as we gathered in the Keep. I could clearly hear the clang and din of war and screaming outside. Then a stampede a feet and someone started shouting._

"That's it, that's it! Shut the door, shut the door!" _And so the door slammed shut, barred locked, and plunged us into a seeming darkness._

_Liberty Rock had fallen._


	11. Freedom from Liberty

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1 for the disclaimer.

* * *

_For the longest time it seemed pitch black in the Keep. In truth there were lit torches on the walls, but they were only a dim glow compared to the torches, fires, and starlight we'd been accustomed to outside. My eyes had barely adjusted while we scrambled about in an attempt to assemble order, hard as it was to do when the Rebels were literally beating on the door and shouting. _

_We found that the highest-ranking soldier amongst us was none other than Lieutenant Falod, the second-in-command of my Hylian cavalry troop. As some soldiers grabbed a few torches off the walls, we did a head count and found twenty-nine of us total, two severely wounded. _

"_Alright, listen up," Falod ordered as we gathered near the statue that hid our exit route. "I haven't been through here, but from what I've gathered it's a very long and cramped hallway that's going to take us out into the mountains. There's no light down there at all, so we need to stay together to ensure no one gets left behind. If you think you're going to pass out or fall behind in any way, let the nearest soldier know. I don't want _any_ of us being left, so we will _all_ stop and help if someone's lagging, am I clear? Good. Now stay together, these torches are going to be our only guides."_

_With that, he turned and pulled the arm of the statues, which slid back to reveal a stairway leading into a square hole. We filed down quickly, a man with a torch at the very front. I was one of the last ones down, and I turned to see the statue begin moving back in place, and Lieutenant Falod dropping into the hole and rolling down the stairs to get in before it shut completely. He stood with a torch in his hand._

"_I'll stay in the very rear. No one, and I mean _no one_, gets behind me, am I clear? Then let's move, calmly please. We don't have much room in here, so the last thing we need to do is panic."_

_He could've said that again. Two men could barely stand shoulder to shoulder in that hall, but neither could move their arms much. We all had to watch our steps: we couldn't go too fast for fear of stepping on the heels of the men before us, but we didn't want to be too slow for fear of our own heels being trampled. The cramped corridor, the exertion of the battle mere minutes earlier, and our two wounded compatriots meant our progress was horribly slow. Every few minutes someone would trade off helping carry those wounded men, and I carried one of them more than a couple times, my arm around his waist and his own arm over my shoulders. _

_We shuffled along that path for what seemed an eternity. In truth, it was in fact several hours. I don't remember much other than a few breaks, and how quiet and miserable we all were. The wounded men had it the worst and their struggles to not slow us down were the loudest thing in that corridor._

_Until one's struggles stopped. When we halted for a break he was alive. When we rose to resume our grim exodus, he wasn't. Someone suggested we leave him, lightening the burden a bit and allowing us to move faster. We overruled him and his few supporters and took the body with us. We had left enough behind already. Too many._

_Near the end of the corridor (though we didn't know that, we'd almost lost hope in there _being_ an end) someone told us what he had seen during the fighting, and soon everyone was taking a turn. Then one said something that shocked and confused more than a few of us._

"_Then when the North Wall blew up…the Hero started telling us to fall back, so we started running, but one of the cannon guys from the twenty-pounder battery was shouting 'What about you? You need to come on too!' But the Hero just tells him to keep going, then he runs right at the parapet and dives off into the whole charging army! That cannon guy and I went to the parapet and looked, and I couldn't believe what I was seein': he was actually in the middle of that whole swarm of Rebels cuttin' 'em down like corn wheat! Then he screams back at us 'Go on! I'm going to get Vael's head, and I'm not coming back without it!' Then he starts cuttin' his way toward Vael's camp off in the west, and those Rebels couldn't touch a hair on 'im."_

"_Hold on a minute," another Loyalist said. "That can't be right."_

"_What do you mean? You think he couldn't do it?"_

"_I think he could, but I know he didn't. 'Cause when we were falling back I saw him on the North Wall running through every archer he could get his hands on, getting them back for Bargus."_

"_You're both full of it," yet another said, and soon we had a large shouting match going until Rusl quieted us all._

"_Right now it doesn't matter what happened to him," he glowered, anger and pain evident in his face, eyes, and voice. "What matters is that we do what he wanted us to do and get out of here alive. He can't see his family anymore, but he stayed to make sure _we all could_. Now what do you all say we stop this pointless bickering and just get back home."_

_A few hours later that finally seemed possible: we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't know how the wounded man took that, but we all rushed to it eagerly and found ourselves on a high ledge above the ground of the Kasuto Pass, mountains and rocks all around us. We took a few moments to breathe the air, feel the sun and the wind, and let it sink in that we were out of that fortress. The next hour saw us making our trek down the small concealed path carefully and slowly. By the time we reached the ground and continued our way southeast back to Hyrule, the sun was in its afternoon stages. _

_I don't remember how long after that we walked but Rusl, who was out front as our scout, suddenly gave us the signal to halt. We did so and drew our weapons, tired and haggard but too stubborn to not face whatever threat might await us. But it was no threat. The slow, relaxed trot of a horse carried a beautiful steed around the next corner of the Pass, one we all recognized: it was the Hero's._

_Rusl sheathed his sword and approached her with a smile on his face, and as he grabbed Epona's reigns and pet her nose, we all saw the searching look in her eyes as they scanned our motley crew. Searching for her master. Rusl noticed too, and what he said to her was too quiet for us to hear, but we all heard the tears that came to his voice. For a moment we were silent, and then Epona raised her head and neighed. More neighs came in response, and around the corner came even more horses from Liberty Rock. There were only six, but we put them to as much use as we could: one carried our fallen escapee, and another carried the wounded man. We all took turns riding the other four, though we all came to the unspoken agreement that Rusl alone would ride Epona. _

_For hours we forged on. We had no supplies and so were miserable with hunger and thirst, and we had no medical supplies. So we rarely interacted with the wounded man, who was in too much misery of his own to want to enjoy company, and so no one knew when he died. Someone simply looked at him and noticed he was gone, his body still upright in the saddle, though slumped forward a bit._

_It was nearing sundown when we saw men in armor arise from behind rocks with bows and arrows aiming at us. Their armor was that of the Grand Army of Hyrule._

"_Are you from the garrison at Liberty Rock?" their leader asked as he stepped forward._

"_What's left of it," Rusl answered simply. The Hylian solders seemed to deflate at hearing this, and they lowered their weapons as their leader continued addressing us. _

"_We're the scouting element of the Lanayru Provincial Regiment. Our outfit is the one that was preparing to relieve you…when was the fort captured?"_

"_This morning," Lieutenant Falod said. "Before dawn. The sun was still nowhere in sight when we had to abandon it."_

_The scout leader nodded his head sadly, then looked amongst our group again._

"_And where's the Hero of Twilight? Wasn't he in the fort too?"_

_For that, no one had an answer.

* * *

_

_The sky was a beautiful mix of oranges and purples when we came to the gate at the Hylian end of the Kasuto Pass. We were lead through and saw the field where, fifteen days earlier, the cavalrymen of Troop 2 had set up camp until Captain Rhodus and my squad returned, hopefully with Link. It seemed forever ago, when we made our way through the gates on the path to a fort we only knew of by name. A fort where most of us would die. _

_Now it was much like the camp our troop had had that day, only much, much larger in scale. Thousands of soldiers were gathered with tents set in uniformed lines and rows of perfect spacing. We were taken past gaping soldiers and curious eyes into the tent of the regiment's commanders and staff. They spoke to us and we told them of the Rock's final battle, and learned the horrible truth: the reinforcements we had been waiting for so badly had finally been fully gathered, and were preparing to head out tomorrow. Vael's timing had been perfect._

_We were lead to spare tents and slept through the night. The next day we were put on carts and sent to Hyrule Castle Town, where it finally hit us all that it was over._

_The Calatian Loyalists who had escaped with us were sent home through the passes we still held. The Kasuto was the only one to have fallen, and when the surviving thirteen men of Troop 2 stood in the throne room of Crown Princess Zelda herself, the Layanyru Provincial Regiment was engaged in the Battle of Kasuto Pass, a violent stalemate which would last six full days before flanking divisions from the other two passes caught Vael's army in a pincer movement and retook the pass. _

_In the throne room of Hyrule Castle the Crown Princess asked us all to choose our fates, considering the least she could reward us for our ordeal. We could accept an honorable dismissal from the Army, our service done, or we could stay in one of two manners: we could return to the King's Cavalry, reassigned to another troop for immediate deployment, or we could remain in service and transfer to the 1__st__ King's Royal Guard Battalion, which had the personal responsibility of guarding the princess herself. _

_Lieutenant Falod chose to return to the King's Cavalry, and would go on to become a hero in the Calatian Civil War. By its end three years after the fall of Liberty Rock, he had risen to the rank of major and was the second-in-command of the entire 2__nd__ King's Royal Cavalry Squadron. He earned a name for himself in several battles where he stayed until all his men were safely out, whether he was wounded or not._

_I chose to transfer to the King's Royal Guard, where I was assigned as a guard of the throne room. It was in this duty that, almost a week after the fall of the Rock, I witnessed a horror that haunts me to this day, worse than even the memories of the Rock's fall._

_A courier arrived, bearing a message from broken negotiations. Vael would always send representatives with the same message: surrender now or there will be no mercy. It never mattered to him how outnumbered his armies were throughout the war, no matter how miserable and suffering his men were with infections and diseases and no supplies, he would never surrender the war._

_But none of his messages were as memorable as his first. He sent a package with it, and when the courier opened it he screamed and dropped the small chest it had been sent in. It seemed that a ball of fur bounced out, but when it settled it became very obvious that it wasn't. The courier wasn't the only one screaming._

_It was Link's head. The skin had decayed ever so slightly and holes exposed the red gore beneath. The hair seemed so thin and brittle, and some of the fibers did in fact remain on the floor in the wake of its rolling path. But the worst thing was the eyes: the lids had been sliced off so that they were always staring. When it settled to a stop it was looking directly at me, and his eyes seemed to focus on mine. They seemed to accuse me._

_I wasn't the only one screaming.

* * *

_

**Author's Notes:** I had to force the task of writing this chapter down my throat. Not because it bothered me or something, I just didn't feel like doing it. But I know that if I wait until I feel like doing it, I might be waiting a long time. And I've given myself a deadline of July 30 to post the Author's Notes chapter, ending the story on the year anniversary of starting it, just like _Multiplayer Chronicles: Mombasa_. So I've got to post the actual final chapter between now and then. This might be my only Zelda fic for a long time, all my ideas are focusing elsewhere. Hope some of you follow me around though. Leave a review and some constructive criticism please.


	12. Hope Springs Eternal

**Author's Notes:** Here it is: the last chapter of _Liberty Rock_. On July 30 I'll seal this thing closed with the Author's Notes chapter to mark the one year anniversary of the story's posting. You'll find all sorts of behind the scenes stuff in it about the process this story went through from concept to final product, plus my shout-outs to various reviewers and their comments. So without further adieu, here's the end.

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1 for disclaimer.

* * *

_Three years have passed since those fourteen days in Liberty Rock. Three years since the beginning of the Calatian Civil War, since Hyrule's commitment to aiding the Loyalist faction, and three years since Link was laid to rest in two different countries. I'll get to that in a moment. As of my writing this account, the Civil War has been over for almost eight months. In that time we've learned several truths and facts to what happened behind the supposedly united front of the Rebels. I don't even know where to start with those truths._

_It was a common and easy to believe point of view to assume that the soldiers of Vael's Rebel armies were all heartless evil-doers who supported his causes and methods. In truth they were puppets. Vael was notorious for his capability as a public speaker, and over the course of a year he'd exposed certain faults in the Calatian government and overblew them into something more. I can't describe it any better except as a metaphor: he showed the holes in the roof of a boarding home and convinced a significant number of its inhabitants that it would fall apart within seconds. The majority of his soldiers simply joined him because his image was that of a man who could fix the problems and save their country. Only when he actually fielded this force did his true manners become known._

_And how did he keep his lackeys under his grip and prevent them from defecting or rebelling against him? Fear and isolation. Insubordination of any kind was severely punished, from lashing to death. As such the soldiers never discussed their leader and his "policies" in anything resembling a negative manner. So they never knew they had enough fellow dissenters to do anything about Vael._

_We all know that campfire story of the merchant and the drifter, who became trapped in a cave together. They each had just enough food for both of them to survive for a few days, but neither wanted to reveal it for fear that his companion might kill him to have it all and live even longer. So they starved to death after eight days with enough combined food to last half a month. Their bodies were found ten days after they became trapped._

_I guess life does imitate art, if campfire stories count as art._

_It was true that there were several of those who agreed with Vael's emulation of the Ancient Calatian ways. One place you probably expect to see the most of such supporters would be Vael's own general staff. But not one of those fellow generals agreed with his methods and practices, or his true goal of returning Calatia to the ancient ways. But like everyone else, they could say nothing for fear of their lives. But they did one act of rebellion that made them practically heroes to anyone who recognized the insanity of Vael and his policies._

_In the aftermath of Liberty Rock all of the garrison's bodies were gathered in a pyre for burning save for Link's. He had Link's head removed for the sake of the message he planned to send, and instructed his body to be burned alone at night. While the rest of the garrison would at least have the comfort of entering the afterlife together, Hyrule's great hero would do so alone in the cold grips of the desert night. _

_But Vael's staff officers recognized Link's worth as a warrior and, at the risk of their own lives, spirited his body way and had it buried in a proper warrior's grave, while only the corpse of a Moblin burned in the night. They marked his grave with a simple black rock similar in appearance to the Keep, one which remained in place until we investigated the claims of this story and found them true. We didn't exhume his body; everyone agreed that he had earned an undisturbed eternal rest. Instead the Calatian king commissioned the finest artisans to sculpt a proper grave marker, which now stands in the fields of Calatia overlooking the basin at the exit of Kasuto Pass. I haven't seen it…yet._

_As for Vael himself, well...his fate disgusts me. For three years he ravaged and burned a country he saw as imperfect and shameful with the goal to reforge it into the perfect nation. He broke many families, ended many lives, committed countless war crimes...and escaped punishment for it all. In the final days of the war, he ordered his surrounded and outnumbered forces to continue fighting, as usual. But three years of their wretched conditions had caused his field commanders to finally just have enough with him. They all surrendered on the same day, totally unaware of their fellow commanders' intentions. It could be coincidence or even fate, but Vael no longer had an army, in fact the ones he trusted to lead that army had been kind enough to reveal every possible safe house Vael had. And so the reunited Calatian Army and the Hylian Army marched on him together. He swallowed a vial of poison and hanged himself when we were literally on his doorstep. Several called for his body to be burned, as he had done to so many, but Crown Princess Zelda refused and had him buried in a proper grave. Her words sum it up best: "We will not let him win by stooping to his wretched level."  
_

_Reminders of the Hero of Twilight can be found in every province of Hyrule. There is a statue in each one, plus one before the stairway that leads into the main gate of Hyrule Castle Town. They're all slight variations of the same thing: Link with his sword and shield in an eternal stance of readiness. Nobles deem them some of the greatest Hylian sculptures, but it's very common knowledge that the hero's widow finds them lacking. As she put it, "No stone or marble can hold the life of the man." The only Hylian monument she approves of is the simple stone chest that his head, with a green scarf tied around the eyes, was buried in. Last I heard she was living with her child in the home on the land Link had earned for riding to the Rock._

_My life in the Royal Guards has been routine and mundane. But I do my job everyday and do it as if lives depended on it (because at least one life really does). I've done it so long and so well that I've earned quite a bit of leave time, and decided to use some of it to write this…and to make an important pilgrimage that's long overdue, civil war or not.

* * *

_

_It is now several days since last I wrote in this book. I'm now standing on the sandy fields east of Liberty Rock, or what remains of it. It has been abandoned as a fortress in lieu of newer fortifications around the mouth of the Kasuto Pass itself. A few feet behind me is the ledge which drops into the basin we watched for fourteen days. I don't know how to feel about the idea that, even in death, Link is still watching over that dimple of sand and dirt. Before me is the grave marker that stands over Link's final resting place. It looks almost identical to the Hylian monuments: a squarish base with a moving inscription and a statue standing atop it. But what makes this one unique, and so much better, so much more beautiful and true, is the stance the statue stands in. _

_He is not in some inspiring pose of combat readiness. He is as Calatians on both sides of the war saw him that night, the night he saw his last sunset: he's standing with his violin, his eyes open and concentrating on something in the distance, his fingers still yet obviously dancing along the strings while the bow glides. The wind is blowing now, and listening to it here, I can almost swear I hear music. I can't tell if it's real or madness brought on by grief. Oh look at me, I'm getting these pages wet._

_Why I'm so grieved by the loss of a man I barely knew is a mystery to me. Perhaps it's not the man himself, good as he was, but the idea of him. A man who did what he knew was right whenever he could, whatever it cost him. There aren't many like those left, and he was the greatest of them all._

_Link is gone now, but in a sense he'll always be here. He was a man, but he was also more: he was a legend, a symbol of hope to all who need one._

_And if I know anything, it's that, while hope fades or even dies, in the end it never stays gone._

**THE END**_  
_


	13. Author's Notes

**Author's Notes**

Well well, here we are. I'm posting this chapter on the one year anniversary of posting the first one, beginning this story that's occupied a part of my imagination ever since, and even before. Here I'll shed some light on how it came to be before addressing the comments of the reviewers I've had as of this typing. Like any story, with a few exceptions, the best place to start is the beginning.

I'm a lover of history, particularly military history. And one of my all time favorite subjects of history is the Siege of the Alamo, the most famous battle of the Texas Revolution. For thirteen days (February 23 to March 6, 1836), a garrison of Texian regular soldiers and volunteer milita numbering 187 to 250, depending on which account you trust, was surrounded by an army of about 2,000 lead by the dictator of Mexico, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who wanted to crush the revolution himself. The final battle of the siege occurred in the pre-dawn hours of March 6, and after ninety minutes of fighting all of the Texian fighters were dead, the only survivors being the women and children taking shelter in the fort, and the slave of the garrison's commander. It was, obviously, this battle that served as the major inspiration for _Liberty Rock_.

When I read something that involves a battle of some kind, my favorite scenario to see is "good guys outnumbered and surrounded in a fort or weak position". The Battle of the Hornburg (or Helm's Deep if you've only seen the movie) from _The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers_ is a particularly good example from fiction, and like the Alamo it had its own influences in this fic (the image of the North Wall exploding is certainly reminiscent of the Deeping Wall suffering the same fate). I've always wanted to write such a battle myself, and have thought of all sorts of variations. This fic was my first serious attempt to get it down in print.

In regards to writing the story itself, my original plan was to use the same writing style Stephen King used in the novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", where a character is writing the story itself. When the character recounts scenes he wasn't present for, he writes what he has heard to be what happened. I wasn't quite able to maintain that style for the whole story though, so by the time I had the final draft of chapter 1 ready, I'd decided to use the Survivor's Account as a framing device.

The writer of the account himself was always a blank slate. That idea came from another piece of King short fiction, a short story called "Trucks" where vehicles and certain electronics come to life and begin a war on people, so to speak, before enslaving them all. It's told by a first person narrator who is trapped in a diner with a few others, a narrator who never says his name or anything.

The most important character in this story though is obviously Link. His status in this fic as a famous hero worshipped by the everyman as something more than what he thinks he is is based on one of the Texian militiamen in the Alamo: David Crockett. Crockett grew up in Tennessee and learned the ways of the tracker and the hunter as a young boy, and as a young man he served as a scout in the Creek War before pursuing a career in politics as an adult. One of his schticks as a politician was to prove he was the average joe by doing what average joes of the time did: he told stories about himself. He bragged of exaggerated feats he'd performed and was That Guy that's always a crowd pleaser at parties. Here's a well known example of his entertaining spiels:

_"Who-Who-Whoop — Bow-Wow-Wow-Yough. I say, Mr. Speaker; I ve had a speech in soak this six months, and it has swelled me like a drowned horse; if I don't deliver it I shall burst and smash the windows. The gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Everett] talks of summing up the merits of the question, but I'll sum up my own. In one word I'm a screamer, and have got the roughest racking horse, the prettiest sister, the surest rifle and the ugliest dog in the district. I'm a leetle the savagest crittur you ever did see. My father can whip any man in Kentucky, and I can lick my father. I can outspeak any man on this floor, and give him two hours start. I can run faster, dive deeper, stay longer under, and come out drier, than any chap this side the big Swamp. I can outlook a panther and outstare a flash of lightning, tote a steamboat on my back and play at rough and tumble with a lion, and an occasional kick from a zebra._

_"To sum up all in one word I'm a horse. Goliah was a pretty hard colt but I could choke him. I can take the rag off-frighten the old folks-astonish the natives-and beat the Dutch all to smash-make nothing of sleeping under a blanket of snow and don't mind being frozen more than a rotten apple._

_"Congress allows lemonade to the members and has it charged under the head of stationery-I move also that whiskey be allowed under the item of fuel. For bitters I can suck away at a noggin of aquafortis, sweetened with brimstone, stirred with a lightning rod, and skimmed with a hurricane. I've soaked my head and shoulders in Salt River, so much that I'm always corned. I can walk like an ox, run like a fox, swim like an eel, yell like an Indian, fight like a devil, spout like an earthquake, make love like a mad bull, and swallow a Mexican whole without choking if you butter his head and pin his ears back."_

When not entertaining potential voters and whoever was in the room, Crockett was a humble man who simply enjoyed his life. He eventually made it to two terms in Congress, and was known as a real man of the people. Thing is, when people spoke of Crockett they always thought of him as the superman of the stories, the folk hero of today we call Davy Crockett, though the real Congressman has never been recorded to refer to himself as anything other than "David". The name difference might not seem important, but it's what the names represent that makes the point. I'm probably not articulating it clearly enough, but I hope you understand, and even if you don't hopefully now you're interested enough to research it yourself.

The idea of a hero who was seen as something more than the hero saw himself applies in some variation to all heroes throughout time, but Crockett always sticks out in my mind. Way I see it, Link would be just the same.

In my opinion my original characters aren't anything special, but a few people seem to think they are. Colonel Gavelston fills the role of Lieutenant Colonel William Travis, the garrison commander of the Alamo. Other than their jobs and similar ranks, they're very different though. Where Travis was a young, idealistic, and patriotic lawyer who aspired to be something more than an everyman, Gavelston's an older, tested soldier who does his job so someone else doesn't have to. His name might be a product of subliminal filling in the blanks: when I was trying to think of a name, "Gavelston" simply popped up. At the time though, I'd forgotten a fact that I'd known before and have re-learned since: there's a city in Texas called Galveston. Slightly different spelling, but maybe my memory was trying to pull it up and used the next best thing? We may never know.

Another difference is their main subordinate. Travis had a slave named Joe who, during the battle, reloaded his weapons while he fired others. When Travis was killed on the Alamo's north wall by a shot to the forehead within the first ten minutes of the fighting, Joe simply locked himself in Travis's quarters until he was found by Mexican soldiers, who spared him in accordance with their country's rules about slavery (they saw it in a negative light and saw slave fighters as men fighting against their will). My story's equivalent, Turo, was based on recollections I had from animes and cartoons I used to watch featuring an overly enthusiastic and eager-to-help sidekick of some kind. His name comes from the movie _Batman: Mask of the Phantasm_, where the Joker has a clandestine meeting with Gotham City's District Attorney Arthur something-or-other. During said meeting, the Joker calls him all sorts of names, including "Arturo". Something about the way he said that stuck with me and popped up when I was writing the character, so I ran with it.

Captain Rhodus is just a generic experienced soldier. His name's a tweaked version of "Rhodes," which is my go to easy-stamp name for second-in-commands for some reason.

Bargus seems to be a fan favorite, and his origins can most easily be described as "Gimli the Giant." In my head he was just a huge guy with a big axe, a beard, and the voice of John-Rhys Davies. My main reason for having him there was to fill the role of James Bowie, a famed frontiersman and knife fighter of the time. Yes, he's the guy who popularized the Bowie Knife. He was also almost as big a star as Crockett at the time, and so I made a well known Calatian hero and somehow naturally filled in the Gimli details. Oh, and about my attempts to imitate a Scottish accent in text. Well…I'm sorry.

Then of course there's the Big Bad: General Vael. While he fills Santa Anna's role, the historical figure he's most like is Hitler. What can I say, when I come up with villains they rarely have any likeable qualities. To follow the mold, Vael has none whatsoever. We never even see him, much like the classic villain Sauron. I had an idea for a sequel/companion piece detailing the Rebel Army's clean-up of the fort in the morning after, and we would've seen him then, but I've scrapped it.

But the characters weren't the only thing influenced by the Alamo. I did my best to describe it, and I might have come up short, but in my head I picture Liberty Rock as having a very similar layout to the Alamo compound as it stood in 1836 (I say that because all that's left is the main chapel and the long barracks that made up most of the East Wall). Instead of flimsy adobe walls and houses, though, the walls are made of stone and thick like a castle fort's. Instead of the main chapel we have the Keep, instead of the palisade we have the Low Wall, and instead of a horse corral outside the East Wall we have a stable inside it. This detail's rather minor, but in my head the Keep is a lot closer to the main courtyard than the main chapel of the Alamo was.

And now to address my reviewers.

_Chocolate Teapot_ – Thanks for being my first reviewer. Since you pointed out the thing about the word "Crisis" being overused in chapter 2 I've come to agree, but I can't think of what else to say in its place. I hope the story was as interesting as you originally thought it would be, though.

_Restof_ – I'd like to know if the tragedy was as, well, tragic as what you felt you had to prepare for, and I hope it lived up to the expectations.

_CatVista_ – That comment about my writing style having "this epic quality to it… like it could be a legend from Greek or Spartan times" has always stuck out in my mind as a special form of approval, and I'm glad you felt it deserved the praise.

_kindingo_ – The details thing is just a quirk of mine. I try to fill my fics with info for anyone unfamiliar with the fandom while slipping in the references that the real fans get and the newbies can infer to mean.

Like I said in my reply to your review way back when, I like to think Link's whole "I'm not just a superman I'm a real person" complex is a justifiable reason for his overt modesty besides his natural humbleness.

Link being a natural musician just seems…well, natural, given all the instruments he's played throughout the series. I just slipped in a violin because it's my favorite classical instrument, it's one we haven't seen in a game, and Crockett was a fiddler. Hooray for more historical allegory!

Thanks for subscribing when you did. I hope you've still kept up with the story, and it was as enjoyable as it was to make you subscribe.

_lawleit_ – I was also snickering when I thought of the scene. And you hit the nail on the head about how normal dying and being revived is for Link. It's just a different story when the fairies are gone, though.

The consequences and implications of one person killing another when they oppose such a thing is standard for a story dealing with the inner workings of the people involved. I'm happy to see you picked up on it though.

And yeah, the letter part was a simple piece of good in a rather bleak situation.

Fun Fact: one of the names called out to receive a letter, "Gwynne," is the name of an Alamo defender from my home state of Mississippi. I don't think there was anything special about him besides his name and being one of five (I think) Mississippians there, but I wanted to throw it in.

_krock_ – Thanks for the reassurance that I still had readers beyond Trickster's Imagination and Shadsie.

"_Me"_ – I'm glad my story appealed to you despite the presence of something you don't normally like. It also makes me smile to know my story caused conflicting emotions. That means I'm doing my job right as the storyteller.

_Airian Reesu_ – It makes me feel cool to know I caused reactions from you and others. It strokes my writer's ego, so to speak.

The statue of Link in Calatia is an image that's been with me from the beginning. I'm happy to know it was so well liked.

_JoshRand1982_ – The thing with Vael's staff and Link's body is my way of reminding the readers that, while there are real bad guys in any army, no army of people is made of nothing _but_ bad guys. There are always those who have a sense of right and wrong, and others who're actually willing to stand for that sense. Like the statue, I'm glad it was so well liked.

_Joe_ – Finding this at the end just means you didn't have to sit through several weeks or even months of delays and lost work ethic. Now you can get it all in whatever schedule you want.

I've got a lot of other ideas to work on, but only one of 'em is Zelda related. Whether you read the others as well is your prerogative, but whether you do read 'em or not, thanks for the encouragement.

_Tex_ – You're welcome.

_Trickster's Imagination_ – You gave me my first really in-depth review on anything I've written, and you've stuck with it loyally since the beginning, or close enough to it. You've given feedback and encouragement, and at the very least reminded me that I had _someone_ waiting for the next chapter. Thanks for it all, man.

_Shadsie_ – When I first read "Wolfhide" way back when, you had me hooked to anything you uploaded, some more so than others. I kinda felt cheap asking if you'd read my story, almost like I was flapping it in your face. Then I saw how much you liked it and I got a feeling of accomplishment that I can only fittingly compare to finally beating _Majora's Mask_ after ten years, especially when I saw that recommendation part in your profile. You tolerate me, you really, really, _tolerate _me! *shakes award statue vigorously*

And so, ladies and gentlemen, the time capsule on this year-long escapade is sealed. It's been a bumpy ride, and I'm glad to say I did it. I'm off to other projects, and it'll be a long while before I return to a Zelda fic, but I definitely will someday.

After all, how else are you gonna find out what happened to Link's violin?

_- Sergeant Conley_


End file.
